


Avatar: La leggenda di Niccolò

by baking_breadjamin, xenolinguist



Category: Eurovision Song Contest RPF, Festival di Sanremo RPF
Genre: Airbender!Niccolò, AtLA AU, Avatar!Niccolò, Avatar: The Last Airbender AU, Canon-Typical Violence, Firebender!Fabrizio, M/M, MetaMoro, Slow Burn, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Waterbender!Ermal, metamoro au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21908608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baking_breadjamin/pseuds/baking_breadjamin, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenolinguist/pseuds/xenolinguist
Summary: Water. Earth. Fire. Air.Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Niccolò, and although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Niccolò can save the world.
Relationships: Ermal Meta/Fabrizio Moro
Comments: 17
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

_**Water. Earth. Fire. Air.**_  
  
_**My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar mastered all four elements. Only he could stop the ruthless firebenders, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years have passed and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the War.**_  
  
_**Two years ago, the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my siblings to look after our tribe. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads, and that the cycle is broken. But some haven't lost hope. Some still believe that somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world.**_  
  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
_Engulfed in the never ending masses of water, he reckoned one should feel intimidated. No ground under his feet, only limited amounts of air to his disposal, and the uncertainty of what lies within the darker corners of the ocean should normally frighten you. And yet, he never felt more at peace than when he was floating so freely in the sea, almost as if gravity and the world outside didn’t exist_  
  
_Through turquoise water, he then spots a bright orb. An orb whose brightness intensifies the more he approaches, until it pains his eyes too much and in the next moment he transcends that very fine border separating him and the orb._  
  
_The moment he emerges above the water surface, he lets his lungs deeply fill with air, lets the pleasant warmth of the sun tickle his skin, dry the drops on his face.  
He exhales and lays back, trusting in the calm waves of the salty sea to let his body float safely. And somehow he liked to believe the ever squawking seagulls who kept him company will watch over him too._  
  
_"Ermal."_  
  
_That sounded familiar. And not only because it called for him. No, he knew that voice. Knew it his whole life. But where did it come from? His eyes landed on the shore not far from him. A beach marvelously paved with sand which, under the shining sun, would be quite tricky to walk on. A wonderful beach, yet an empty one._  
  
_"Ermal."_  
  
_Again! The young man was certain now that he heard it correctly. And looking at the still empty beach, his confusion only grew. Perhaps he would be able to see someone if he came closer? There’s only one way to find out._  
_He turned around from his comfortable position and started slowly swimming to the source of the voice. And while the sea remained unbothered, the way to the shore suddenly seemed to stretch the more he tried to approach it. He swam, and swam, and swam. His muscles never tiring, but at the same time, the beach never coming closer either._  
  
  
"ERMAL."  
"Huh- Wha- Wher-?!?"  
  
Gone were the warm waves gently hitting his body and the sunrays kissing his skin. Instead he found himself on the floor of his snow-made house, greeted by the typically freezing temperatures of his home, the South Pole. The source of the voice, as suspected his younger brother, was currently staring at him from above.  
  
"Erm, c'mon, mum says you gotta go fishing."  
  
"I-" He rubbed his eyes before blinking a few times, noticing the day light outside and then another panic set into him. "What time is it?!"  
  
"Uhm around midday?"  
  
"WHAT?!” And with his worries confirmed, he got up in lightning speed, running left and right through the room while discarding his nightshirt on the way. "Why didn't you wake me up?!"  
  
"Well, _someone_ had to repair the watchtower." His brother huffed with crossed arms.  
  
"Ugh, dammit, Rinald!” Ermal would let his frustration out more had it not been for the fact that he was hectically struggling to pull his blue coat over his head at the same time as putting on his left boot. After finally assembling all clothing bits together and grabbing a bucket, he stormed out en route to the ice shore where the boats laid, but didn’t come far however when he heard yet again his name being called.  
  
"Ermal!"  
  
"What?!" he turned around annoyed and his annoyance only grew when he saw his sister with an equally vexed expression on her face. Some things really should not run in the family.  
  
"Are you back from fishing?" Sabina asked sharply and Ermal wished for a moment that the ice below his feet would break and swallow him.  
  
"I- I'm going now, okay."  
  
"Now?! And until and _if_ you catch something, it'll be evening, right?!" She raised raised her voice as much as her eyebrows. "You do know our provisions can only last until tomorrow."  
  
"Oh _excuse me,_ if I weren't the only decent fisherman in the village than maybe we could catch more. But as it is, none of you want to get your hands dirty, so what can I do about that."  
  
"Aren't you the one who’s oh so proud to be the only waterbender in the village?! You'd think as such, you could handle fishing all by yourself."  
  
"Well, maybe I should stay at home next time and you-”  
  
  
"Ermal. Sabina. Enough!"  
  
Two pairs of fuming dark eyes turned away from one another in favour of looking towards the third person joining them, their mother.  
“Sabina, to the campfire. The stew isn’t done yet. And Ermal, hurry up now. We really are running low on food.”  
  
She tried to scold them as gently as possible but sometimes these stubborn children of hers need a little push. That became even more evident when both siblings huffed begrudgingly and went their separate ways.  
  
  
At least, Ermal _tried_ to go, albeit grumping under his breath, but the slippery ice under his feet had other plans for him. And if somebody asked (which nobody did), he would have never admitted that it was the children bursting out laughing, and not the harsh pain of hitting the ground, that completely ruined his day there.  
  
He sighed. Maybe once he was out on the water his mood would improve,eh?  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
The sea was silent, and so were the fish.

He was quite good at fishing, considering he could simply raise any fish he could see out of the water with his bending, yet his bad fishing streak had recently begun. It was frustrating. There were people to feed, and here he was barely able to catch any fish!

Gran Gran calls it a bad omen. He calls it bullshit.

He sat back in his boat with his line cast, and nothing was biting. There were no fish to be seen. Again. He didn’t want to return fishless again. It was just embarrassing.

Just as he was thinking about the comments he would hear returning without any fish, he found a faint dark form moving in the water. Ermal stood up and quickly raised his arms, pulling up a giant drop of water from the sea. Sure enough, a large fish swam in it.

“Aha!” he called out. “Gotcha.”

However, he spoke too soon as he didn’t realize the mass of water he held the fish in was a bit too small, and the fish managed to wriggle itself out and plop back into the water.

Ermal stared in silence at the spot where the fish reentered the water. It was the final straw of his patience to snap.

_“You have got to be kidding me!”_

And so he snapped with it. He didn’t care how irrational, how childish he might be throwing a tantrum over lost fish. He was irrational and needed to let it out. He shouted towards the clouded sky and the chilling sea, threw his hands up in the air in dramatic flairs, and everything in between. He’d had it with this!

When Ermal finally came down from his rant and simmered down, the change from his own yells to the dead silent sea was deafening. It seemed almost too quiet now.

Then there was a thunderous crack behind him.

There was a moment in which he was hesitant to look back, but his curiosity overpowered it and he turned his head around to the gargantuan iceberg behind him. It seemed like a normal iceberg, despite being the source of the sound and...strangely circular. It was an interesting little thing he’d passed by countless times fishing. Straight-cut chunks of ice began sliding off the iceberg and crashing into the sea, and it occurred to Ermal that maybe he had overreacted just the slightest bit.

“This is just my luck,” muttered Ermal, and then he saw the giant crack in the iceberg, still splitting down its middle. For a second, it seemed like there was _something_ in there. Some kind of figure or giant form.

As the ice continued to split and fall, Ermal began to guide his boat closer and closer towards the trembling, icy mass where it was more and more clear that _something_ was in it. He had to know what this was.

A flash of light. Ermal raised an arm to shield his eyes against the light so bright it felt like it’d burn through his eyelids. Then the boat rocked, and he had to lower his arm and grab the sides to keep from ending up in the chilling water. And when the light died down, he thought it was because he’d been blinded, but instead he opened his eyes to the iceberg, now completely split in the middle.

A person was stumbling out.

The boat sped up and he could more clearly see the bright yellow and orange fabrics clumsily slipping on the ice. He reached the iceberg and stepped out onto the ice, fishing pole frozen to his hand, and a pair of wide brown eyes lifted to meet his gaze.

“Oh...Hi,” said the kid sprawled on the ice, decked out in Air Nomad clothes and blue arrows on his arms. “What’s up?”

In response, Ermal pointed his rickety fishing pole towards the boy. “You gonna tell me what this is all about?”

The boy’s brows furrowed. “Uhm, what?”

“Listen, kid, don’t play dumb. What were you doing in the ice? What are those clothes and—” Ermal finally looked over to where the kid had emerged from the iceberg. There was a giant ball of seemingly golden fur, slowly rising and falling. “—what is _that?”_

“Are you from the Water Tribes? A-are we at one of the poles?”

“I’m the one asking questions here.”

“I was—I didn’t plan to end up in the ice, okay? Who would? I was just riding on Spugna there,” the boy sat up and pointed to the mass of fur, and then Ermal saw the animal’s head turn to them. They were tiny compared to this Spugna. He’d never seen such a huge, furry animal. “And we got caught in a storm.”

“You...rode that thing?”

“Yea. He’s my flying dog.” Spugna barked, and he swore the ice shook beneath his feet. He heard some ice break off and crash into the sea.

“Yeah, and I’m Ermal, a flying waterbender.” Ermal muttered, but it ended up louder than he expected.

“Oh, I’m Niccolò.” For the first time today the waterbender could snicker, but he held it in. “Anyway, they...They aren’t uncommon in the Air Temples.”

“Exactly. In the _Air Temples._ What—What would you be doing there? Stealing from ancient cultures, huh?”

“W-what? No. I live there. I’m literally an Air Nomad.”

Ermal sighed and lowered his fishing pole and stepped forward. “Alright, kid. You’ll come with me and then the tribe will see what we do with—”

He reached out his free hand to take the boy’s arm and help him up onto his feet, and then he leaped. Ermal watched as he rose high above him, like he was floating in the air, like he was flying, and then Niccolò was sitting on top of Spugna’s head. It was...It was like he controlled the air.

His jaw hung open, and the boy must’ve also noticed how he stared at him in blatant disbelief, because he asked, “You’ve never seen an airbender before?”

“I…” Ermal shook his head and all the annoyance he felt towards Niccolò fell into the sea with the rest of the ice chunks. “Do you know how long you were in there for?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. A couple days? Couldn’t have been that long. It’s not like I’ve missed a whole war or something, right?”

Ermal let out an awkward huff, not wanting to respond.

“So, the village is still this direction too?” Niccolò pointed in a direction that just happened to indeed be the direction Ermal came from, and he nodded. The airbender smiled and pet Spugna’s head, “Then I’ll get there on Spugna. I could maybe fly you over too.”

“I have my boa--Fly?”

“I told you I came here on my flying dog.”

“Yeah.” It was one thing to see a living, breathing airbender in front of his very eyes. For him to believe this giant dog could fly was too much today, if not his entire lifetime tripled. “I’ll...I’ll take the boat.”

So Spugna raised his head and stood up, and he towered over Ermal.

“You know, Spu’s actually the smallest out of his siblings.”

“That’s...evident.” A nervous response from the waterbender who was a bit too used to being one of the tallest people in his village. Spugna was the height of a dozen Ermals, if even. Frankly, this was all too much, and Ermal simply headed back to his little boat.

Meanwhile, Spugna emerged fully from the iceberg with Niccolò sitting on his head and stepped towards the water. 

“Alright, Spu. Aò aò!”

Spugna yawned and entered the water.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He whispered and pet the dog’s head and looked towards Ermal who was settling in his boat. “He’s too tired to fly right now. Must’ve been a really good nap, huh?”

Ermal barely glanced over. He didn’t want to think about how long of a nap this kid and his dog must’ve had. “Uhuh.”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
The sound of the metal echoed shrilly through the air as heavy steps stumbled back on the top deck. The soldier breathed heavily in and out, but there was no time to rest as the next blaze of fire was aimed at him.  
He countered and evaded but his opponent was more forceful, his flames harsher, faster until the soldier’s back hit the cold railing. He was caught, and when his opponent mercilessly stroke once more, he knew he had to save himself by escaping into the cold water.  
  
The man remaining on the top deck smirked. Ah yes, he'd almost assume those new soldiers were just too easy to take on even if only for practice reasons, but it pleased him more to say that he still got it.  
  
After all, Francesco Renga did not earn the title of General within the Fire Nation army in vain. After all, it was _him_ who the Fire Lord personally tasked to patrol and study the Fire Nation's last untouched bastion, the South Pole.  
How much sooner the war could have been won had it not been for the Poles!  
  
Fire and Water were inherent opposites to one another. They never mixed and never could mix. And as much as it pained him to admit, those icy temperatures and the hostile environment went so rigorously against a firebender's nature that it made invading a mammoth task.  
  
Water can only mean harm to a firebender. And before that happens, the firebender must find a way to harm it first.  
  
  
So here General Renga was, scouting the area for weeks, observing the various small tribes, studying their fighting techniques, their weak and strong points.  
  
He’s not gonna lie, it was rather tedious work, with the only way to keep him somewhat entertained by practicing with the rather clumsy soldiers. He sighed as he leaned against the railing, observing the never ending glaciers in front of him.  
  
It would be just another day cruising the South Pole.  
  
Except it wasn’t.  
  
  
What happened next could only be described as outworldly as suddenly a flash of light shot upwards, illuminated the sky like a beacon of raw power. The vibrations from that potent source carried through the ground, through the water until they hit the ship, rocking it left and right.  
Renga grasped the railing tightly, so tightly that he almost bent the metal with his fuming hands. He watched the beacon slowly diminish until it was gone completely, but the change in the air remained. Something _has_ changed. Something has happened, and he had an idea what that might be.  
  
  
Since childhood, they’ve been told the stories by their grandparents about that One Person who could bend all four Elements. That one person who would mean the end to the Nation’s ambitious military endeavours. The one person who one day vanished without a trace and yet has not been reborn.  
At the academy, they’d prepare you for even that possibility. His masters kept telling him _’If the Enemy returns one day, you will know it’_. And how could he not?  
What got unleashed right in front of his eyes could only be a force that got pent up for over a century and now has seen the light of day again.  
_He_ has seen the light of the day again.  
  
Renga smirked.  
  
"So the Avatar has returned."  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
It had been a very long time since the laughing of the village kids sounded as bright and joyful as it has on this day. Reason for that tremendous change of mood was the young man clothed in orange who was rushing in between the kids on top of a ball of air. Soon the kids gathered around the newcomer and when their furry coats tickled his nose to the point where he sneezed and promptly flew off five feet into the air, the young villagers watched with amazement.  
  
And they weren't the only ones. No, Ermal kept a keen eye on the young man as well. With crossed arms, he leaned against the wall and observed Niccolò through the window enjoying life and laughter without a care in the world. He sighed.  
"You seem concerned, my boy." a gentle hand found its way on Ermal's back and he melted right into that ever-grounding touch.  
"How is this possible, Gran Gran? Frozen for a hundred years, frozen throughout the war and worst of all, the annihilation of his people." Ermal swallowed hard as he watched a carefree Niccolò dodge a snowball. "How am I supposed to tell him that?"  
"If you won't tell him, the skeletons at the empty Air Temples will." An image of Niccolò standing shell-shocked and unprepared in that mass grave surfaced in Ermal's mind and an ice cold shower went down his spine. "The truth is never easy, but having it delivered by a compassionate soul still dampens the impact at least a little bit."  
His grandmother was right, she always was. He and Niccolò were barely acquaintances, let alone friends, but a certain feeling of responsibility swept over the waterbender anyway. Perhaps it was his upbringing, perhaps it was just an integral part of his being, but when someone needed to be taken care of, it was Ermal’s call.  
  
With heavy steps, he made his way outside to find Niccolò squatting down on the eye level of a little girl that was particularly close to Ermal’s heart.  
  
“An’ you can really fly?” Miria asked with wide blown eyes, her mother sighing behind her.  
“Not quite fly, but more like, I play with the air, y’know.” Niccolò answered dutifully.  
“Oh. An’ how can you ride the ball of air?”  
“I just let the air circle very, very fast. So fast that it kinda pushes me up, so I can ride it.”  
“Ooooh” The little girl said, not quite with comprehension but with a lot of fascination. When her uncle joined them, Sabina leaned towards her brother and whispered; “She keeps interrogating him as if she would start airbending any second now.”  
  
Ermal chuckled. Ah, yeah. His darling niece, ever the curious little bugger.  
  
“C’mon, Miria, it’s lunch time, you can play with Niccolò later.” Sabina said sternly as she took her daughter’s hand, leading her towards the fireplace. What was left were Niccolò waving back at the little girl and Ermal.  
“Having fun, I see?”  
“Yeah, the kids here are great! And super fascinated by my airbending as well?!” The young man chuckled. “Oh man, the guys back at the Air Temple will find that hilarious.”  
And suddenly the light mood was killed in an instant for the waterbender as he was harshly reminded of the duty he still had to fulfill.  
After taking a deep breath, Ermal placed a hand on the airbender’s shoulder, God knows the kid will need someone grounding him, before he spoke again “Niccolò, about that...”  
  
  
Ermal forgot what he was about to say next when all of the sudden the ground underneath their feet started shaking. Shaking so hard that kids ran towards their mothers and the watchtower fell over and when the fog cleared up, Ermal felt his stomach drop.  
  
_”No.”_  
  
With an unprecedented force, a battleship ruthlessly crashed through the snowy defensive walls encircling the village. It was huge, had sharp edges, was made out of the strongest metal and hoisted a red flag on top.  
  
A Fire Navy ship.  
  
The women and elderly all gathered in the centre of the village, protecting the children behind them when the ship opened up and a few soldiers stepped out. Ermal pushed himself through the crowd until he was right in front of everyone, until he was the last barrier between the Fire Nation soldiers and the village.  
  
“Where are you hiding him?” barked the man clothed in bordeaux armor in front of him. Ermal heard a few children gasp in fear behind him, so when he spoke, he tried to convey as much confidence as possible.  
“We’ve got no one to hide. Whoever you are looking for is not here.”  
“Don’t lie to me, tribal boy.” The soldier insisted. “I saw the light, I _felt_ the enormous surge of power coming from this area. You’re the only people around here, so I’m gonna ask you again, and you better answer me this time: Where are you hiding the Avatar?!”  
  
Of all possible things, this was the one Ermal had expected the least.  
  
“The…..Avatar!?” If his incredulousness gave off a certain hint of superiority, then this was by no means Ermal’s fault. “You mean _the_ Avatar that disappeared off the face of the Earth? The one that nobody has ever seen and that was probably never even reborn? That Avatar?”  
  
And if his cockiness gave off a certain invitation to smash his face in, then this was perhaps a little bit Ermal’s fault.  
  
And so the waterbender found himself being harshly grabbed by the furry collar of his coat by one hand while the other, balled into a fist and in flames, threatenly hovered over his face.  
“Who do you think I am, huh?” The flame above him rose with the anger in his enemy’s voice. “You’re talking to General Francesco Renga and you little bastard still dare to lie to me? Well, fine then.”  
And with that Ermal had been dropped to the ground as the General threw a glance towards the village.  
“If you are being so stubborn, then we’ll just use other means to make you cooperate.”  
The General’s hands ignited again, and his troops followed suite.The flames reflected on the terrified faces of the villagers, mothers pulled their kids closer in a desperate hope to protect them from what was about to be unleashed upon them and that was when a figure in orange pushed himself through the masses, pushed until he was in plain view.  
  
“Okay, alright, here I am, the Avatar, ready to go with you, just _please_ leave the village alone. They had no idea.”  
  
A village, a waterbender and Fire Nation troops found themselves gaping at Niccolò, although all for different reasons.  
  
It was Ermal who broke the silence by muttering a weak “It can’t be...” under his breath, before the General joined his confusion, this time with a bit more volume.

“B-but he’s- he’s so _young?_ I swear to the Firelord, if this is yet another trick then-”

“Oh, no, I really am the Avatar!” To demonstrate this, Niccolò once more formed a ball of air underneath his feet, making the Fire soldiers gasp. “I mean, I can only bend air so far but I’m, you know, the real deal.” The young man added somewhat awkwardly. The General however was more certain in the following words he spoke.  
  
“Chain him up and set a course to the Fire Nation.”  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> C: all i have to say is, Bread snapped big time in this chap  
> B: no u. anyway let the adventures of mouse babey and water rat begin :)c

After the airbender was led into the ship, after the last of the red uniforms were obscured by the closing ship, and after all that metal disappeared into the horizon, the villagers were left stunned in the middle of the village. However, they began to disperse, going back into their homes or continuing some work with an underlying dreadful feeling sitting in their guts.

Except for one waterbender, whose gaze never once left that spot on the line where the sea and sky met, whose feet never once left their places on the ice as if they were frozen to it. The underlying dreadful feeling sat in his gut too.

More had happened in barely a couple of hours than in, what, a decade? He could barely wrap his head around it all. Finding an _airbender_ in the ice, and an airbender who seemed to have no clue about the genocide against his people, which would mark him as...There was no way that kid could be so old. Then there was the giant Fire Nation ship, demanding for the Avatar! And then the airbender claims to be the Avatar! It was…

“It’s impossible,” Ermal muttered, becoming aware of his grandmother’s presence beside him. “There’s just—There’s just no possible way he can be the Avatar. I can begin to admit to seeing a live airbender in front of my eyes, but the _Avatar?_ He’s a kid. That’s what he is: a kid. They just took a kid! He’s so young, and the Avatar disappeared ages ago!”

“Not just ages ago,” said Gran Gran. “The Avatar disappeared one hundred years ago. How long do you think your friend was frozen in ice for?”

“...At least a hundred years.” Ermal finally turned towards Gran Gran. “But how can he be—”

She silently raised her finger towards him, and Ermal shut up to listen to her as she continued her point. “And the last Avatar was supposed to be from the Air Temples. What is your friend?”

“...An airbender. But that would mean—” Ermal’s eyes went wide. “If he gets to the Fire Nation, it’s all over. I—I’ve got to—!” He had to get there quickly, the quicker the better, time was already slipping for them all.

He searched frantically behind him for something until his eyes fell on a mass of gold fur behind a snow wall, and he remembered something silly, something he would’ve thought impossible had he not already become inclined to believe the Fire Nation had just gotten a hold of the Avatar right before his eyes. He almost slipped on the ice again bolting towards Spugna, who whined when he saw Ermal approached him. Maybe it was because he saw his friend was gone, maybe it was because he didn’t like the strange human.

“I know, I’m sorry. We’re going to go get him out of there. We’ve just gotta work together on this, okay?”

Spugna barked and laid down, letting Ermal clumsily scramble up onto his back and on the sort of saddle strapped on him, which seemingly made it much easier to hold persons and baggage. So far so good.

“Ermal? _Ermal!”_ He heard a woman call out, and though he immediately recognized the voice he was still a bit surprised to find Sabina rushing towards them, a spear now strapped to her back. “What are you doing?”

“I’m gonna go get Niccolò back.”

Sabina crossed her arms. “You’re gonna break him out of a heavily armored Fire Nation ship by yourself sitting on a dog?”

“...Yea? It’s a ship. It’s surrounded by water.”

Ermal expected her to perhaps scold him as if he were a child refusing to follow her back to the house instead of a grown brother planning to break someone out of an armored vessel. He expected literally anything that wasn’t her climbing up onto Spugna, which was exactly what happened.

“What—Nevermind what I’m doing, what are _you_ doing?”

“You’re not doing this alone, no way. So I’m coming with.”

“Uhm, maybe don’t? Sabi, it’s—”

By this point she had made her way onto Spugna’s back and sat near her brother and patted him on the shoulder. “Uhm, maybe shut up?”

Ermal stared back at his little sister. He knew that once she’d made up her mind on something she wouldn’t let anything stop her, like right now, and she was a very capable person. So, he sighed. He’ll just make sure nothing happens to her.

“Alright. Come on Spugna, let’s go get your buddy back. Up you go. Y’know, into the sky. You can do that, right? C’mon. Up up. Elevate. Ascend.”

Spugna moved, but he was only walking towards where the ship had originally come and gone with his feet mostly on the ice.

Ermal kept on with his muttering about going up until Sabina tapped his shoulder. “Are you really just going on about flying dogs?”

“Niccolò said Spugna’s his flying dog.”

“Did he try to show you that?”

“When we were coming back here, yea, I think he did, but then said he was tired.”

“Did he, like, say or do something specifically?”

“I mean, I guess he did say something really weird, like, I mean it couldn’t have been it, but it was somethin’ like ‘aò aò’ or— _SHIT!”_

There was something about those words that caused Spugna to suddenly break out into a run, and Ermal was nearly sent flying back and had to grab onto the edge of the saddle or risk being thrown off entirely as the sharp, freezing wind battered into him.

“Oh my spirits, look!” he heard, and when he looked up from desperately holding onto the saddle he realized why it was that his sister told him to look.

The snow, ice, and water passing by beneath them was farther down than before, even higher than looking out from the watchtower. The ride had become smooth.The wind was kinder to him. When he turned his head back he saw their little snow village get smaller and smaller, farther and farther, something he’d seen a lot when he went out fishing but now looked completely different from this new, elevated angle. He could even see a few people outside, probably watching them, confused and awed. And the clouds! They seemed so much closer!

“We’re—We’re _flying!”_ The two siblings laughed and cheered like they were kids as Spugna carried them through the air nearly as if he were a bird.

The laughter quickly died down when a dark mass came into view, and they’d realize when they approached closer that this mass was entirely made of metal.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Niccolò had always been in awe of the Fire Nation’s advanced industrial sector. The machinery that originated from the Nation had always had cutting edge quality which no one in the world could quite imitate nor match. _This_ ship however was beyond anything Niccolò had ever seen. This ship was fully _steam-driven_ with the powerful motors roaring under his feet. And those weren’t the only novelties.  
Steel processed so professionally that it makes impenetrable walls and doors which opened and closed only through quite sophisticated lock mechanisms. It all looked so modern, it all looked so _futuristic._  
Yeah, the young Avatar noticed all these little things while the two soldiers escorted him down the ship. He still had no idea what he could have possibly done to anger the Fire Nation and to his questions, he didn’t get more than a harsh “Silence!” from his captors. Rude.  
  
Niccolò pondered the situation he found himself in. Whatever was going on was clearly a misunderstanding, one that at the moment looked like danger. These guys won’t listen to him, he needed to figure out what was happening and how to reverse it. But that he can’t do in a cell.  
They turn the corner and in front of them stretches a long corridor, at the end of it their final destination, a prison cell. There was not much time left, Niccolò had to think quickly. Extremely convenient how his nose started tickling right in that moment.  
The powerful sneeze that followed had two consequences: One, the guard in front of him was catapulted straight into the metal door of the cell, rendering him unconscious.  
Two, Niccolò and the guard behind him were also forcefully pushed back to the other end of the corridor, crashing into the hard wall.  
Well, at least the guard did. The young airbender was spared that fate, by that nice pillow the guard turned out to be, so he quickly got onto his feet and ran as fast as he could with his hands tied behind his back.

He could make, he just had to be careful, he just had to go stealth long enough to-- Oh no, oh spirits, why did he have to run right into the next pair of soldiers around the corner!? He quickly used the moment of shock to sprint on the walls and then to the ceiling,evading them skillfully and on the way cutting the ropes on his hands while flying over the sharp edges of their helmets.  
Now that his hands were freed, he opened the first door that presented itself to him, but in front of him, he simply saw the quarters of General Renga who stared at his now roaming prisoner in shock. Okay, time to turn around, it seems. 

Niccolò rushed through the endless hallways which all treacherously looked the same, taking turns left and right in the hope to find some stairs, a window, an exit of any sort.  
Not too far behind him, sturdy footsteps and angry voices were heard. Voices that alerted the rest of the crew that the Avatar was escaping.  
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Niccolò cursed as he evaded a burst of fire that was aimed at him before taking the next corner “Where’s the exit?! Where’s the goddamn exi- AH!! A DOOR!!” He pulled it open to reveal a startled guy sitting there just minding his own business. An unexpected sight, with an even more unexpected odor following. “Oh? uhm- Sorry man! Just- just take your time! Also, perhaps light a candle when you’re done. Bye!” The young Avatar swiftly apologised as he closed the door of what was most definitely not an exit.

After much more exercise than he imagined (seriously, since when are ships so HUGE?), he eventually spotted a ladder, leading to the top deck. But what awaited him there were a large group of soldiers encircling him. A group too large to take on by himself.

“I’ll give you that, hiding for so long was sort of impressive.” Niccolò heard Renga’s voice behind him as the General had caught up with him. “But this is as far as you get. Give up, Avatar. You’re outnumbered. All your airbending can’t help you now.”

Niccolò swallowed. Looking around he noticed the soldiers taking position, ready to fire any second now. 

And that's when the ship got rammed hard into the ice wall they drove past, sending a few soldiers to their feet and even Renga stumbled a bit. 

“What the f-”

And then a golden mass of fur rose up to the sky. A golden fur, which Niccolò was too familiar with and whose sight brought great relief upon him.

“Spu!” 

But Spugna didn’t come alone. Oh no, to the young Avatar’s great surprise his beloved ball of fur was accompanied by Ermal and his sister. They actually came for him, Niccolò realised with a warmth spreading inside his heart.

The trio landed on the deck and Spugna knocked a few soldiers into the water with a powerful gust of wind caused by his tail.  
The siblings meanwhile slid down to the ground to join their young friend, which promptly triggered Renga to command his men to attack. And thus, a fight erupts. 

They gave their best, fought bravely and fiercely, even Sabina with her spear despite lacking any bending skills, but it was slowly getting out of hand. The airbender noticed how desperate they all were. How despite the size, Spugna couldn’t fend off all those soldiers bursting flames at him from all sides. How Ermal with all his waterbending couldn’t extinguish all those flames targeted at him at once.  
And then all happened so quickly. Niccolò had just turned his back to the General for a second, a mere second, but then a scream tore his eyes back and he witnessed Renga grabbing Sabina’s wrist harshly making her drop her spear. Distantly the airbender could hear Ermal calling out for his sister, and that is when it hit Niccolò.  
It was all for him, they came to rescue him and look at that. They risked their life for him, and he was failing them. He, the Avatar. He- he had to save them, he must save them, he-

And that was the last coherent thought Niccolò had, because a moment later a transformation took place beyond his control. The lovely chestnut coloured eyes suddenly illuminated with a bright light, the tattoos on his body followed suite and then a storm started to build itself around the Avatar, as if he was the eye of a hurricane. He started elevating and once up in the air the young man commanded the water around the ship to rise, to surround him as well, until it created a massive form of water, with the Avatar as the centre.  
The form’s watery arm then swept over the deck and easily brushed the soldiers off the ship with its powerful waves. Then it reached to the icy wall the ship had crashed into and with one quick tug, giant chunks of ice and snow fell onto the ship, destroying half its watch tower and slicing the stern open. A piece of ice may or may not have also hit Renga straight into the face but nobody would complain about that anyway. The remaining soldiers were splashed with a wave that quickly turned into solid ice and when silence finally reigned again, the gigantic form started to dissolve and the boy trapped inside it lost the light shining from his eyes and his immobile body simply started falling down.  
“Nic!” Ermal ran towards the slowly decreasing water pillar to catch the unconscious airbender in the last second, dropping to his knees in the process.  
Behind them, a whistle was heard coming from his sister. “You saw that?” She nudged her brother “Now _that’s_ what I call waterbending!”  
Said brother, used to being the butt of the joke since childhood, simply rolled his eyes, but silently he agreed. That was beyond anything anybody of that age should normally be capable of. That was beyond what _any_ waterbender could ever be capable of. And yet, lying in his arms, Niccolò looked so exhausted, so weak. Just like any other kid. Not a trace from the sheer force that was unleashed moments earlier. 

Ermal sighed. “Let’s get him back to the village.”

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Back in the village, people were shocked to see Ermal, Sabina, and Spugna had returned with the airbender safely, er, as safely as unconscious in Ermal’s arms was, but he was alive and out of danger nonetheless. Especially their mother, who couldn’t believe her two kids recklessly went after an entire Fire Nation ship of that size and stature “As proud as I am of you two, of course,” she said after Ermal brought Niccolò to their home and laid him in bed, pulling warm blankets over him.

And after a few hours he came in to check on him, and it was just in time when he saw the airbender stir awake. It took a few moments for him to look around and catch his gaze.

“Oh, hey there,” Niccolò spoke, obviously exhausted. Whatever had happened to him earlier, it surely sapped all his energy.

“How are you feeling?”

“Tired.” He seemed to rack through his brain a bit. “I don’t remember too much. Is everyone alright? You and your sister?”

“Yes, we’re all fine. We probably wouldn’t be if it weren’t for your…” Ermal wasn’t sure _what_ that was. That just wasn’t something you’d ever expect to see in your life. “...your glowing trick up your sleeves.”

“Oh.” Niccolò, who didn’t wear sleeves, smiled. “It was pretty cool, huh? I mean, I don’t really remember it, but it must’ve been.”

Ermal chuckled and sat down next to him. “It was. I’ve never imagined that kind of waterbending...So you really are the Avatar, then.”

“Yeah, I’m the Avatar. Ya got me.”

It was still something Ermal couldn’t quite believe, mainly the concept that he was really talking to someone who had disappeared for a hundred years and someone who could stop the war.

Both these things gave him terrible thoughts. He would never be ready to tell the Avatar about his disappearance for an entire century, the war, the genocide…

The Avatar sat up cross-legged. “Now, I’m confused. Just _why_ is the Fire Nation after me? I’ve been frozen in ice this whole time, what did I do?”

He should've known at some point he would ask, and then he would have to answer, and this would be the point.

“It’s…” Ermal swallowed. “They want you gone because you’re the only person that can stop the war.”

Niccolò stared at the waterbender with wide eyes. _“War?_ Wh—what war?”

“The one the Fire Nation started a hundred years ago to take over the rest of the world, that they’re still waging to this day, that…” He shook his head. No, he couldn’t. There was no way he could break this to him. It was bad enough he didn’t know about the war. But Gran Gran was right in that he would find out, and it shouldn’t be the skeletons at the Air Temples that first told Niccolò the fate of his people. It didn’t make this any less difficult.

“That _what?”_ Niccolò urged. “You—You’re already telling me I’ve missed a war that’s been going on for a hundred years! What else is there?”

“...That—” He could already imagine many of Niccolò’s possible reactions. He could see the ugly tears, the bottomless grief, yet he couldn’t even imagine how he’d feel, how he’d take this. How could you imagine losing your whole family, your friends, your community? It all made his eyes water, and Ermal took a deep breath as he met the airbender’s eyes. “That cost the Air Nomads their lives.”

The airbender’s mouth hung open. He could only mutter, “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“The Fire Nation knew that only the Avatar could stop them, but all they knew was that the Avatar would be an Air Nomad, so they...When the kids watched you airbend in amazement, it was because the world hasn’t seen an airbender in a century.”

He immediately regretted the words that came from his mouth. He witnessed the moment in which reality set in for the airbender. In only a moment, he seemed to turn into a young child with his large, teary eyes.

Niccolò could only shake his head. “Th—that can’t be. _No._ That can’t be right. You can’t be serious. You’ve got to be joking!” However, he must’ve seen in the waterbender’s glossy eyes that he was serious, because a choked sound escaped him, making the waterbender’s heart drop.

“I’m so sorry.”

He wanted to pull the Avatar into a tight hug, give him some sort of comfort even if it would be nothing in comparison, but before he could do anything he stood up with haste as he tried to speak through the sobs that came out.

“I have to go,” he said weakly as he ran outside. Ermal stood up to follow after him, but he was already nowhere to be found except for some tracks in the snow below him.

He remembered that day he ended up in the ice, when he was running away because everything was so overwhelming and he needed the space, when he got stuck in a storm and crashed into the ocean, when he knew he had to freeze he and Spugna in order to save themselves.

And here the Avatar was, once again running away in the thick snow somewhere outside the village until he finally stumbled and fell. He couldn’t breathe in that little room. He still couldn’t breathe. 

A hundred years. Gone just like that. All his people. Gone just like _that!_

Lost, Niccolò could only curl into a ball, not even processing the frozen feeling of the snow on his bare arms. He should’ve been there. He shouldn’t have run off. He could’ve been there to help protect his people, and even if he would’ve failed, at least he would’ve tried. Instead he ended up spending a hundred years in the South Pole and his friends, his family had passed. The reason this happened in the first place was because they were looking for _him._ So many innocent lives just for one they didn’t ever find until now. 

Alone, his tears felt like ice. He was the last of the airbenders. He doubted any of his friends outside the Air Temples were still kicking after a hundred years. 

However, there was one thing he discovered long after his eyes dried when he heard the snow crunch behind him, and he turned with hesitation only to see the furry face he cherished ever since he was a child. He cracked a smile just as Spugna curled up with his head resting next to him.

“At least I have you, Spu,” said Niccolò, and in return he was met with a giant tongue that licked his face.

Though, even Spugna could not keep him distracted for so long. What was he supposed to do with all this? What was he supposed to do with nothing? Then again, if he was the only person that could stop this…

“Niccolò?” The voice was soft, and once again he looked over his shoulder to discover another thing: Ermal walking with caution towards him. And something about this was comforting, like he wasn’t as alone as he thought when he had the waterbender checking on him.

“Hey. I just needed some time earlier, but...I think I know what I have to do.” Niccolò looked to Ermal as he now sat down next to him. “If...If there’s a war. If the Fire Nation’s army is really is terrorizing the rest of the world like I saw when that ship arrived here, and if it did all...all _that_ just to get rid of me, then I have to stop it. I can’t let it go on. I’ve got to learn to bend the rest of the elements. I’ve got to master them. I can still only bend air! How am I gonna—”

“Well, let’s slow down a bit there. If you look at it that way your head’s going to explode, and that won’t do anyone any good. Perhaps you should think of it as one element at a time.”

“I suppose...Then firstly, I need someone who can teach me. Maybe I can start with waterbending.”

Ermal rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, if you’re going to look for a waterbending master, you’re better off going to the North Pole. There’s really only me. But if you want, I can see what I can do about teaching you some things? Though you probably want to get to the North Pole as soon as possible.”

“I’d love for you to teach me waterbending!” Niccolò grinned, but then it faltered. “But you’re right. I should get there quickly…I mean, you could travel with me, but I shouldn’t ask so much of—”

“I’ll do it.”

Now the airbender stared at him, puzzled. “Huh?”

“Well, if I can go out there and help at all to stop this war, I can’t just pass up that opportunity.” Ermal then let out a chuckle. “My fishing’s been pretty bad lately too, surely someone luckier should pick it up anyway. Plus, it’s not every day you get a chance to teach the Avatar something, huh?”

“I guess not.” He smiled, and the Avatar realized that with the waterbender by his side, he wouldn’t be as alone going forth, wouldn’t be travelling such distances with only the sound of the wind rushing by, wouldn’t be so aimless.

For this, he could only express his gratitude by hugging him tight. “Thank you, really.”

He felt hands pat his back and rest on it. “Of course.”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Ermal had first explained to his family his plan to leave with the Avatar, and now the morning after that discussion, he, Niccolò, and Spugna were at the village entrance with their things packed and the villagers gathered around them.

Meanwhile, Rinald was the first of the Meta family to begin to give his farewells. “So you’re really leaving.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Ermal gave his brother a crooked smile, and Rinald hugged him tight.

“I’ll miss you, bro. And don’t you worry, I’ll be catching all the fish you could dream of while you’re gone.”

Ermal laughed and patted his back. “I’ll miss you too, my fellow esteemed fisherman.”

Next, he hugged Sabina, who simply told him, “You better stay in one piece or so help me.”

“I’ll try my best. Not gonna lie, after yesterday I’m a little intimidated by that.”

“Good. That means you’ll try harder.”

When they separated, Niccolò also approached Sabina. “Thank you, really, for helping save me and, y’kno, kicking butt with your spear.”

“Of course! I couldn’t just let this guy go off on his own like an idiot, either.”

“Thanks, Sabi.”

Sabina smiled and she looked down to her daughter holding her hand. Immediately, Ermal knelt down to her eye level, not being able to contain a bright smile. “You be good and be careful on the ice, and make sure your mum isn’t doing anything too rash again.”

“Hey, you wouldn’t be able to say that if I didn’t decide to come with.”

“I will,” said Miria. She looked to Niccolò next. “An’ can you do the thing again?”

Niccolò chuckled, but there was no way he could say no, and then he was sitting on a ball of rushing air while she and the rest of the children giggled. Ermal ruffled her hair and stood up, and he swore his heart melted in his chest when he heard his niece say “Bye bye, Uncle.” 

Then before he knew it, two arms hugged him tighter than the rest, and he knew it was none other than his mum even before she said, “Oh, I can’t believe it’s really happening.” She then kissed her son’s cheeks, eyes watering. “Have fun, stay safe, be careful, don’t stay up too late, make sure to eat well, come back when you can, just remember we all love you.”

Ermal chuckled, “I will, I will. Love you too.”

Then there was Gran Gran, who took his hand in hers. “I know you must seek the great waterbending masters in the North, but be careful, Ermal. While they’re still our brothers, things are different up there.” Ermal nodded, and Gran Gran smiled and added. “Have fun. I trust you two will do some good.”

Unfortunately, Ermal knew that there was a time they needed to finally depart, and that time probably should’ve been now, although now that he was here and sure he was leaving, his hesitation grew. 

They said their last goodbyes to the village, and the village theirs, though this also included the children not letting Niccolò take another step until he pinky-promised he would return soon and show them more cool airbending tricks (and, perhaps, some more bending when he learned more). When the kids were content and assured, the two climbed on Spugna.

Niccolò looked over his shoulder. “Ready?”

“Yep.”

“Alright. Let’s get going, Spu. Aò aò!”

As much as he loved everyone, he’d always wanted to leave the South Pole, go on some adventure, travel like Gran Gran did when she was younger, come back with some shocking stories like she did. However, he never could’ve imagined this image of everyone around him as he departed, this image that, when Niccolò said the magic words, got smaller and smaller below them, until the only things surrounding them were ice, snow and water.

For a bit, he looked back towards the direction of the village in thought, until Niccolò spoke up. “You good?” 

“Yeah, I’ve just never really traveled like this before. I mean, I’ve never gotten to travel on a flying dog either, but I’ve...I’ve basically been in the South Pole my whole life. Everything about this is pretty new. You don’t have to worry about turning back, though, I’m alright.”

Now he turned his head towards their next destination: The North Pole.  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
Various noises and sounds buzzed through the air that afternoon: The loud shoveling of snow from the bow, the quieter crackling emerging from the hands of the firebenders who were melting their frozen compatriots, the fast steps rushing left and right over the ship. All these different sounds were heard, but none of them were chattering. Nobody dared to chat. Not after this disastrous defeat. What a disgrace that had been, General Renga thought grinding his teeth. 

When he found consciousness again, he was left with not only one horrendous purple bruise on his face, but also with a half destroyed ship. From the bridge in the watch tower which once had a roof but was now torn asunder, he could inspect the damage better. Whatever had happened to the Avatar earlier, it left a colossal mark on the ship, and secretly, on Renga personally too. He might have gotten fooled once, but he wouldn’t get fooled again. 

“Martino!”

“Y-yes, General?” stuttered the lanky assistant with the askew glasses, clenching his hands around his writing board. One would think you'd get used to Renga’s harsh tone over time, but that was simply not the case.

“You got a pen and paper? Good. We gotta write a letter.”

Renga took a step forward closer to the massive hole in front of him and focused on the horizon in that icy hell he found himself in, before he started reciting and Martino’s swift hand followed his words. 

_"Almighty Fire Lord. It is with deepest regret that I must inform you about the reappearance of our long lost enemy, the Avatar. While he still seems young and inexperienced, a Nation of our grandeur cannot let itself be fooled by it. The Avatar is a mighty threat, my Fire Lord, I witnessed it with my own eyes. We need the best of the best to defeat him. And I just know the right choice for that job…"_


	3. Chapter 3

_In front of him, there’s a road. A road which stretches far over the horizon, impossibly far that is. A road that gets blurrier and blurrier with each meter, and had he not been so familiar with it, he would have lost his way. With steps quicker than they should be, he reaches what was once a door but was now rendered to rubble. Hallways lay in front of him barricaded with broken furniture, the walls burned down to the last inch. The still lingering smell of scorching tickles his nose, fills his lungs with every breath he takes. In the corner he spots a figure curled up on the floor. A woman crying so bitterly that it burns into his memory for eternity. The world starts spinning. What follows is an empty room, and another one, and another one. The world spins faster and faster. And another empty room, and another one. The wailing of the woman becomes louder until it's the only sound surrounding him. Another empty room. The spinning won't stop. He's caught, there's no way out, there's no return, there's only pain, only guilt, everlasting, ever present._  
  
With a jolt he awoke at once, gasping for air as if he had been drowning. Despite the cool nightly temperatures, sweat poured all over his face and his body was still shaking like leaves in the autumn wind. Another nightmare. They'd been more frequent recently. He let his hands rub over his tired face before he sighed. He had been aimlessly wandering for too long. A job, even for only a few days, would do. Or perhaps some locals would need help at their farms or to organise a feast? Two strong hands could always find some use, right? He'd settle for anything really, as long as it keep this thoughts occupied.  
  
Having decided that he'd ask around in the area tomorrow, he laid back on the grass before going back to sleep. Not because he was at ease now and free of anxiety. No. Because he had no other choice anymore.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
As Master of All Four Elements & Saviour of the World, Niccolò expected a lot of challenges to lie in front of him. None of these expectations were however scratching moss off rocks while a waterfall relentlessly whipped your back, much less trying to please his new found companion from the Water Tribes who squinted scrutinisingly at him once Niccolò emerged from the water.  
  
“How’s that?”  
  
“It’ll do.”  
  
  
Their journey to the North Pole would be a long one. And, if Spirits willing, a peaceful one.  
 _”But we cannot just assume it.”_ Ermal had said during their flight, lounging on Spugna’s back. _”We gotta be prepared for trouble. I should probably make some ointments. You never know when you’ll run into the next firebender.”_  
  
And so they found themselves landing on the closest Earth Kingdom territory, a beautiful green island blessed with an abundance of forests, plants and a crystal clear source of water. The perfect ingredients to mix a few salves.  
“The moss is growing at a source that is cool enough to resemble the one’s back home. I found a few pearlworts alongside the shore, and with the water being as clean as it is, I’ll be able to mix us a fantastic salve.” Ermal explained as he put each ingredient into a small bowl before elegantly lifting a little bit of water from the small river and guiding it into the rest of the concoction and Niccolò watched in awe.  
The revitalising properties of water and the associated tradition of healing which the Water Tribes cultivated over the centuries had always been world-famous. And yet it was just now, sitting on the dirty ground on some Earth Kingdom island a century later, that Niccolò witnessed it in front of his eyes.

“How did you learn that?”

“With two rowdy younger siblings to look after you’ll need some damn healing skills sooner than you’d like.” Ermal snickered foundly at the childhood memories resurfacing in his mind. “No, but seriously, it was Gran Gran. Besides me, she’s the only other waterbender and our chief healer.”

“Wow, your grandma taught you to heal? That’s so cool!"

Subtly a sly smirk captured his lips for a moment. “Oh yeah, Gran Gran taught me quite a few things.”

Bending the water in a stirring motion for a few more minutes and that's all it took before Ermal clapped his hands satisfied.

“That’s it. Here you go, ready to be applied on cuts, grazes, rashes and most importantly, burns. Although, we should make some mo-” 

He was cut off by the sound of fast footsteps rushing over the forest ground. And even more bizarrely, those footsteps were accompanied by the sound of ...buzzing?  
And like on cue, a man emerged from the woods but alas, didn’t get far as he stumbled upon a rock and landed just right before the river bank. Despite the fall, the jar of honey he was carrying stayed miraculously intact. Huh, that also explained the swarm of bees that followed suite and started attacking him. 

Once they snapped out of the shock, Niccolò and Ermal rushed towards the poor guy and with one rigid movement of his arms the airbender blew the swarm away with a gust of air. Now time was key, so Ermal didn’t waste any and immediately fell to his knees and applied the freshly made salve onto the man’s reddening face. 

“Great, now I can make more salve." The waterbender muttered under his breath while working his magic on his patient. "You're damn lucky we healed you right after they stung you, otherwise you would have ended up swollen. But now you'll just be a bit red."

A nod would have sufficed. Or perhaps an “Aha!”, a “thank you” would have been most appropriate too. Really any kind of acknowledgment would have been enough for Ermal, but alas, the man on the ground could only stare at his younger companion with mouth agape. 

“But—you’re an airbender?”

“Oh yeah, I am.” Nic scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “My name is Niccolò. I’m sort of the Avatar.” 

“The Avatar?!” The man gasped “Can it be real? Oh, it must be, I saw you bend the air myself.” Their new friend slowly lifted himself from the ground and promptly fell to his knees, bowing in front of the airbender who raised his eyebrows in surprise. The waterbender did not (since he didn’t have much to be raised anyway), and simply rolled his eyes. 

“It’s an honour, Avatar Niccolò, my name is Stefano.”

“Oh by the Spirits.” Ermal mumbled and promptly got nudged into the rib by Niccolò.  
“Ah, uhm, thanks dude, nice to meet you too.”

“Yeah, and I’m Ermal, if there are introductions to be had. Now would you like to explain to us what were you thinking stealing that honey? You know how dangerous that was?”

Stefano got up and merely smiled.

"No, no, I knew I was gonna be fine. Our town's fortune teller predicted so.”

“Wh- A swarm of bees literally attacked you! How were you possibly fine?!” The waterbender countered disbelievingly only to be interrupted by an excited Avatar.  
“You have a fortune teller in town? Like, a real one?”

“But _you_ saved me! And my face.” Stefano once more smiled confidently at Ermal. “So I was fine in the end!”  
The younger man could only huff indignantly. Partially because he found that logic simply stupid, and partially because it annoyed him that it worked out. 

“OH BUT CAN WE GO SEE THE FORTUNE TELLER, ERMAL? CAN WE? CAN WE?” And thus, Ermal found his arm being tugged on by a boy who’s over a century old and yet with those pleading, overexcited eyes reminded him strongly of one of the otter penguins at home. He sighed, as if he ever stood a chance against those puppy eyes.

“Guess it won’t hurt to make a quick detour.”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Stefano was, by all accounts, an average man. Average height, short brown hair, brown eyes. Besides his goatee, he really did not stand out. 

His wife, Clara, with her tall build and her long ginger hair, did. 

“The Avatar? In _my_ house?” Her shrill voice echoed through the air making sure that all neighbours and people passing by were well informed who stood in her front yard. 

“I-”

“No, no, no, you _have_ to stay, Avatar, we cannot just leave you on the streets.” She stepped closer and tightly gripped the young man’s shoulders. Niccolò threw a helpless glace at Ermal who just shrugged while suppressing a laugh. Well, thanks for nothing.  
“You and your companion can stay at our place as long as you wish to, our house is big enough, it’ll be an honour. That right, Stefano?”

Stefano nodded with a timid smile, and Niccolò suspected that even if he weren’t okay with that idea, there wasn’t really room to disagree.  
“Oh- uhm, thank you, ma’am!”

And as the young airbender was so enthusiastically dragged inside, the last thing he saw were a few neighbours speaking in whispers to one another while curiously eyeing him a and Spugna who in the meanwhile made himself comfortable in the garden (and perhaps knocking over a statue or two but would count).  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
For all her eccentricities, the two friends had to admit Clara’s stew was phenomenal. They’ve been flying for a while now relying pretty much on their provisions and the berries they collected in the woods so the opportunity to eat a warm, home cooked meal was pure luxury to them. 

“-And that’s why we’re headed to the North Pole.” Ermal finished roughly explaining their plan and their hosts’ faces lit up in amazement.  
“Such an ambitious endeavour.” Stefano praised them and with a sigh, his eyes landed on their younger guest. “Oh Avatar Niccolò, how long we’ve been waiting for you.”  
“It really does feel like the Fire Nation is getting close to victory these days.” An uncharacteristically sombre expression now captured Clara as well. “You reappeared just when we needed you the most.” 

Caught between gaping at them or replying, the young airbender simply nodded and quickly filled his mouth with another spoon of delicious stew. These people had real hopes, real _expectations,_ and if one doesn’t know how to answer to them, it’s better to not say anything at all.  
Letting those statements still dance inside his head, Niccolò was startled when suddenly they heard the door slam open and a moment later a boy stepped into the room, scanning the surroundings but remaining silent. 

“Oh my boy, you’re finally back! Let me introduce you to your guests!” Clara found her liveliness again and gestured towards the two men sitting at her table. “This is Avatar Niccolò and his companion Ermal from the Southern Water Tribe. They were so kind to grace us with their presence for a few days. Avatar, Ermal - this is our son Giorgio.” 

Giorgio shared his father’s warm brown eyes and his mother’s unruly ginger mob, but lacked the hospitality of both of them. 

A muttered “Hello” was all they received before the boy vanished to his room, and while Niccolò was surprised at that underwhelming reaction, he found himself relieved that for once meeting The Avatar was _such_ an uninteresting sight for someone.

“My boy Giorgio,” Clara sighed and looked long after the kid. “He’s usually a quiet one. And very gifted with bow and arrow - he must have been just tired from his training. I’m sorry.” 

“Hey don’t sweat it,” Niccolò reassured her. “Just ‘cause we rolled into town, doesn’t mean we expect everyone to stop their everyday tasks and like, be glued to us all day long!” 

Ironically, that was exactly what the town decided to do.

The moment they stepped out of the house the following day, they were surrounded by a crowd. Diverse in age, appearance and wealth - but all equal in their fascination about the newcomer, a legend thought to be long lost and yet stood there in flesh and blood before them. 

“Guess word has spread about our arrival,” Ermal chuckled amused at the various people gathered around them, and then they began bombarding the Avatar with questions.

One man particularly close asked, “How will you defeat the Fire Nation?”

Niccolò let out a nervous laugh, not sure how to answer. “Uhh, with—with help? I don’t—”

At this point the two tried to walk on the street but were nearly encased in curious people. Directly in front of them was a woman in nice, perhaps expensive clothes who held out a bundled up baby towards the Avatar, who quickly raised his hands in front of himself.

“Avatar, would you like to hold my baby for a second? It would be an honour!”

“S-sorry ma’am, I, uh, don’t really have any baby-holding experience—”

He managed to maneuver around her and the rest until there was finally clear space, but even those who hadn’t surrounded them were still calling from afar.

A big yet short bearded man called from his stall, “You can buy from my shop, Avatar, I’ll give you a discount! And your strange but somewhat charming-looking companion over there, too!” 

“I...OK, I don’t even know how to take that,” said Ermal.

Despite how much it seemed that the Avatar really could not handle all the people that swamped him at the moment, they just kept at surrounding them. Once again Niccolò found himself throwing a desperate glance to Ermal, who nodded.

“Alright, listen up!” Ermal yelled to the crowd. “We’re glad to be here, but the Avatar is extremely busy doing, uh, extremely important Avatar business, and it is absolutely crucial that you do not interfere with his extremely important Avatar business and all that or else there’s no way he’s gonna be able to save the world and all that good stuff. So, uh, try coming back in three to five business days, yeah?”

It took a minute, but then it seemed to start working, and the crowd was soon dispersed.

“Thanks,” said Niccolò. “I didn’t think I could get so popular.”

“Well, just don’t let it get to your head.”

Then Niccolò made his way to the woman he wanted to meet in the first place: The Fortune Teller. They knocked lightly against the wooden door of the marvelously looking house, perhaps even the most beautiful one in town, but didn’t need to wait long until the door opened and a smiling face greeted them.  
“Hi, I’m-”  
“Hello, Avatar.” A young woman clad in a cream peachy dress and a messy bun answered gently “My name is Tina, I’m Aunt Maria’s assistant. She has been expecting you.”

“Wait, how did she know he’d stop by?” Ermal raised his eyebrow to which Tina could only giggle.  
“Aunt Maria didn’t know. She _predicted_ it.” 

“Oh yes, of course. My bad.” The waterbender mumbled halfheartedly but did however a better job a repressing the urge to roll his eyes. 

Tina opened the door further and welcomed them in, but after taking a step inside Niccolò noticed his friend wasn’t following him. Quizzingly he turned to Ermal.  
“You’re not coming?”  
“Nah, thanks, I’ll pass. I’m gonna take a look around town instead, maybe get us some provisions for the journey later on. After all, they all bragged about giving us some discounts.”

Niccolò nodded and the two companions separated with the younger one following the assistant inside the house, passing by rather embellished rooms with decorative paintings and vases until they reached a hallway and stopped in front of a door. Tina gestured towards the door before leaving him to his own devices and for a moment Niccolò felt a little bit helpless. A deep breath in and out before he tentatively raised his hand to knock and then—  
“Come in.”

A voice from the other side called and Niccolò’s fist froze mid-air, separated from the wooden surface by less than an inch. Instead of wrecking his brain about what just happened, he simply did as he was told and stepped into the room. 

Many different things captured the airbender’s attention at once; the first being the pleasant smell of incense sticks scattered across the dimly lit room, reminding him of oranges and cinnamon. The next thing that inevitably drew his eye was the small fire pit located in the centre of the room. It was a relatively small fire and yet it was the dominant light source with its unruly flames illuminating his face. Funny, Niccolò reckoned, he had always been fascinated by fire. Maybe it’s because his former incarnation, the Avatar who came before him, had been from the Fire Nation or maybe it was just one of Niccolò’s own quirky traits, but all in all, he had always thought fire had, ironically, something quite cool about it. The world had changed a lot in those hundred years, and maybe even for the better, but he’d lie if he’d said it wasn’t too bad that a statement about that flaming element like this was now regarded as highly inappropriate and would land him in a lot of trouble, no doubt. 

“What can I do for you, Avatar?” 

Niccolò was startled by the sudden voice and tore his eyes much like his thoughts towards the source of it: an elderly lady with long, thick robes. Her voice had been calm and her grey eyes seemed knowing. Too knowing. This must be Aunt Maria. 

“Well, I- I want you to predict something. About my future, that is.” He blurred out, trying and failing to hide his excitement. Not only knowledge but now also amusement danced in the fortune teller’s eyes and Aunt Maria nodded simply before sitting down on a large furry pillow laying next to the fire pit. Niccolò, feeling now awkward for standing all alone, followed suit and sat next to her on a smaller and a bit less comfortable pillow. 

“Any specific area you’d like to explore?”

“I- oh, just, I don’t know, whatever you can find first?” The airbender said before stretching out his open hand towards her. “You do read palms, right? That’s how it’s done?” The silent amusement in her eyes was now joined by the corner of her lips turning upwards by a inch.

“It certainly is one of many ways to predict the future, yes.” 

She took his hand in one of hers and traced his palm thoroughly with her index finger, studying it carefully before she finally spoke. 

“Hmmm, well, your life line is a bit wobbly. Be careful with your health, what you’ve been through has worn you out quite a lot, you are a fragile being.” 

Niccolò´s head kept snapping from Aunt Maria’s face to his own palm as if he would be able to see that revelation himself any second now. 

“Your love line seems fairly stable, indeed.” Aunt Maria continued pensively. “Patience is most important here, don’t forget that. And when the one whose voice opens your heart the most speaks up, you will know it.”

“Holy--” The young airbender gasped mesmerised and his brown eyes widened with awe and wonder in them and secretly, Aunt Maria had to admit that it was somewhat endearing to see a miracle such as the Avatar himself being amazed at her skills. And said miracle became even more endearing when he asked so timidly “Can I have another session maybe?”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Perhaps, Ermal reckoned as he carried several loaded bags, being known as the Avatar’s Companion wasn’t a bad thing. Every merchant around town practically begged to be visited by him. Who wouldn’t want to brag about having served the Avatar after all? Ah yes, fighting the Fire Lord was gonna be a mammoth task but let’s enjoy the small advantages they’ve got like discounts and free accommodation in such beautiful, peaceful cities. 

Well, maybe he spoke too soon because just when he turned the next corner, Ermal heard terribly pitched screeching. With fast steps, he approached the source of the noise to find two young teenagers staring daggers at each other, one of them being their hosts’ son Giorgio. 

“Woa, woa, what is going on here?!” Ermal stepped in between them in order to avoid any further confrontations but neither party would even acknowledge him. 

“He tore my dress apart!” the assumed source of all that screeching, a girl with a short blonde ponytail, yelled and pointed accusingly at Giorgio. “My brand new dress! Do you know how long my mum sewed that?!” 

Looking down at her, the turquoise material she was wrapped in did indeed seem torn and ripped And Ermal did not like this at all.  
“Is that true?” All concern that was once in Ermal’s voice was now replaced by a certain harshness. “That’s not how you treat your friends, Giorgio!”  
Ponytail girl was however quick to correct the waterbender. “He’s not my friend, he’s just a stupid jerk!”  
“And you’re just-- just a stupid _girl!”_

“Hey! You cannot talk to her like that!” Ermal barked but the boy in question just stepped away from him, frustrated running his hands through his hair. 

“Ugh, just leave me alone!” And with that the ginger ran off. The ponytail girl also seemed to have enough of all of this and just angrily marched back home too. And there was Ermal, now alone and even more confused than before. That really was no acceptable behaviour Giorgio displayed, but on the other hand was it Ermal’s place to take that to his parents, the people who were kind enough to host them for a few days? He sighed.  
It was at this point that Ermal decided it would be a good time to stop by that fortune teller’s house again and start finding Niccolò. He could pound about that question later on and surely by now the airbender was done getting his palms read or whatever it was. He hoped. He wasn’t really sure how long those kinds of things were supposed to last. 

He was once again met by Tina at the door, who tilted her head slightly at the waterbender but not without a smile. “Have you changed your mind and come for a session?”

“Not exactly, I was just seeing if Niccolò was still here.”

“Oh. He is, but he went in for another session.”

A raised brow. “Another one?”

“That’s right. I think this is his, er,” She looked down in thought, “How many sessions has it been...Oh, nevermind, it’s been a few.”

The image of Niccolò pestering this Aunt Maria at least five times came to mind, and he thought he might come out of this session seeing the future himself. “Would you or Aunt Maria mind if I waited in here for him?”

“Not at all! Come in.”

When he stepped in, he too could finally admire how nice this room actually was, with its paintings and decor. However, as Tina gestured over to some nearby seats, he could barely go to sit down before they heard a door down the hall open and Aunt Maria voice as she and Niccolò emerged. Though, it appeared more like she was shooing him out.

“It has truly been an honour, Avatar, but perhaps someone else needs my services.” Panicked eyes swiftly looked around the room and when they landed on the lanky waterbender, they widened. “Like—like your friend over there!”

“Oh—oh yeah of course! Erm, you should totally check it out too! It’s really impressive!”  
“What? Me? Why should I do that?” 

Again with those otter penguin eyes. Ermal sighed.

“Okay, fine.” 

Ermal handed his young friend the bags before the Avatar was so nicely but firmly escorted outside by Tina and Ermal followed Aunt Maria down a hallway until they reached her working space. The orange cushion next to the fire pit seemed particularly inviting, so that was where Ermal made himself comfortable on before he took a deep breath. “Let’s get this over with. Just to make it clear, I'm only doing this for Niccolò's sake, alright?”

Aunt Maria simply nodded before taking a seat on right across from him, on the other side of the fire pit. She pushed a little bowl towards him. A bowl filled with little...bones?  
As if she could read his thoughts, she explained without further ado. 

“Throw a bone into the fire and I will read its cracks.”

“Oh? No palm reading?” 

“I’ve had enough of those for today.” She couldn’t fight the apparent exhaustion in her voice and Ermal had to suppress a snicker. The thought of the bundle of energy that Niccolò was tiring out this experienced woman with his never ending curiosity was more than hilarious.

Ermal humoured her in the end and picked a bone from the bowl before mindlessly throwing it into the fire. A flame then arose from the fire pit of a magnitude that Ermal only associated with rather unpleasant encounters, but as it was this flame, as large as it was, didn’t harm him and after a moment decreased again. The bone started cracking until it fell out of the pit before carefully picked up by Aunt Maria. 

“Well then, let me see...Hmm...Oh?” She frowned and inspected the cracks closer until her mouth did a perfect O shape. “Ooooh, very interesting.”

Unfortunately, Ermal had to admit, this reaction did peak his curiosity. 

“In your future, I see great challenges.” 

And as quickly as this delusional intrigue caught him, it evaporated just as fast. “Go figure. You try fighting the Fire Lord.” He mumbled under his breath and if Aunt Maria heard him she neglected to show it.  
“But you won’t face them alone. There will be a family. Not by blood, but by something stronger than that: fate. Expect the unexpected. Especially one development will come as a surprise to you. When the hand as warm as the sun takes yours, don't let it go. When darkness swallows you, take a breath and keep calm. When your mind and heart are in discord, trust what feels right. When the sun rays meet the ocean waves, seize the moment.”

Her dramatic speech came to an end and what was left were the soft sounds of the fire pit crackling between them in the otherwise silent room. 

“I mean, if this was some obscure poetry competition, I’m sure this would have been stellar. But as it is, I have no idea what any of those words mean strung together.”

The fortune teller shook her head exasperated. So stubborn and difficult this one. 

“It’s still early, but you will eventually understand. Just keep an open mind, that’s the most important thing.”

Now that did hit a nerve in the waterbender. “When am I not open minded?!” He retorted with a hint of irritation in his voice. 

“Now, for example.” 

Ermal groaned, he has had enough for today. “Okay, thanks for your time and ..and whatever that has been but now I’m off, goodbye.” 

Without waiting any further, he got up and made his way outside with quick steps. What remained was a tired fortune teller, looking after a man who will be his own greatest obstacle. 

And this man would continue to go around town and probably be his own greatest obstacle.  
On this particular trip he noticed a smell. A very pleasant one, like smoked meat. It smelled like the jackpot of travel snacks. Why hadn’t he smelled it before?

He felt his pouch of coins. There was still some to spare.

It just so happened that in the stall where it seemed someone sold different sorts of jerky and such, there was a familiar man whose beard seemed to bounce in joy by itself upon seeing him potentially looking to shop.

“Oy, it’s good to see ye! What can I do for ye?”

“I was hoping for some food for the trip if you’re serious about discounts for the Avatar.” He looked around, and it all just looked so _good!_

“Of course I was serious. You’ve come to the right place! Let’s see...” He began to list all the meats and jerky he had for sale, and it was quite the list, but there were two particular things on his list that really caught his eye, or rather his mouth that began to water.

“How about...” Ermal started, but stopped as the merchant pulled up two bags.

“The peppered duck and spiced bear?”

“Yeah, I was actually going to say that.” Ermal had to admit he was a bit surprised it was like the merchant had read his stomach. “So is that your bestselling, or?”

“Actually, Aunt Maria over there said to make sure I had these stocked for a very important customer who would buy and like them. I see she was right as always!”

“She—” Ermal hesitated. A part of him knew that it would be possible for that prediction to not become true by simply not buying it. His stomach and discount said otherwise, and this guy seemed to just be doing his best. Digging some coins out of his pouch, he muttered, “Of course. Yeah. Right as always. Sure. How much?”

He left the stall satisfied with food for later and still a bit of coin, but a bit miffed. Did everyone take these predictions like fact? Were they really _that_ accurate that everyone believed them? It was impossible. You couldn’t just know the future in some smoldering bone cracks.

A farmer he came across said, “She told us we’d have a good harvest this year. She hasn’t been wrong before.” 

A woman with a very strange necklace said, “She said I’ll meet my soulmate wearing this necklace. A nice bender.”

“How many times have you worn it since then?”

“Every day since.”

“Then of course it would come true.”

“And she’d still be right, then. I hope.” She shrugged and leaned against the wall. “She’s always right, anyway...So you’re...?”

“Ermal.”

“Ah.” She seemed to scan Ermal up and down with her eyes. “Are you a waterbender?”

“Yes.”

“Hm. Maybe you should stop by when you’re not too busy helping the Avatar with his ‘extremely important Avatar business.’”

It took Ermal a few moments to realize just what she was suggesting, and he felt his cheeks probably turn pink. “Oh.”

Despite the slightly awkward exchange, his quest in questioning people about all these predictions still continued. There had to be _one_ person!

“Of course she predicted it would rain! The sky was grey all morning.”

“It’s purely chance that you would win after playing 20 times.” 

“Weren’t the chances of that happening already pretty high?” 

This wouldn’t go as easily as he originally thought.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
This was ridiculous. This whole town was ridiculous. It cannot be that there wasn’t one rational person among all these people! It felt like he’d ask each and every one of them and their answers were always they same: blind trust in this woman’s prediction. He’s had enough of this. He couldn’t do it anymore. Screw this town and their stupid gullibility! Fuming he marched back to Stefano and Clara’s house, not sparing the town’s other inhabitants one glance even when he noticed their gazes followed him. 

Once he arrived at the house he found his hostess knee deep in the dirt, tending lovingly to her flourishing vegetable garden which, undoubtedly, will later on be turned into yet another delicious meal. 

“Clara” Ermal called out making the woman in question look up curiously. “Tell me, you don’t believe in those predictions, right?”

His hostess furrowed her eyebrows for a moment “Yes, of course I do. Her predictions always hold true after all.” And then a softer expression captured her face, and with that small smile dancing on her face she immediately looked 10 years younger. “Long ago, she also predicted us to have a great daughter one day. A daughter who will become glorious for this town even!”

“So what? Are you pregnant or-?!”

Ermal hadn’t realised the harshness of his question until the light died inside Clara’s blue eyes. “No...I- no.” As if turned into a completely different woman, Clara timidly stood up, arms crossed in an almost protective manner. Almost as if the question alone had scarred her. “After our son was born, we tried for another baby but....with not much success so far.”  
Painful memories shone through her eyes that made Ermal regret having asked so carelessly. Dammit. 

“Clara, I’m-”  
“If you would excuse me” She quickly hopped over to the basket full with the vegetables “These need to be washed. See you around, Ermal.” And with that she vanished into the house, shielding herself from the world and the pain. 

Ermal sighed. Oh, what an insensitive fool he sometimes was. 

In that moment Giorgio was getting out of the house with bow and arrows in tow, but his eyes followed where his mother had just passed him. The silent question on his face was evident and had it been any other time, Ermal would have firstly scolded him about that scene earlier with his friend, but as it was the waterbender doubted he was in a position to hold speeches on delicate behaviour. 

“I asked your mother if she believes in the predictions Aunt Maria makes and I think I might have upset her.”

“Oh.” Interestingly, the mention of that prediction killed Giorgio’s vibe quite similarly to his mother’s. “Yeah, that’s- that’s a sore topic. I guess. If you want to believe in them, at least.” 

If Ermal were honest, he’d almost say that kid didn’t sound too convinced himself. And that hint of eyebrows he raised gave his scepticism away as well.

"What?! Sure, my parents would be happy if they’d have daughter. Of course, who wouldn't be. Everyone likes baby girls.”

The grip around his bow tightened and with the way the boy glared daggers towards the ground, that dirt must have personally wronged him as well. Ermal sighed.

“Giorgio, I have two younger siblings, I can guarantee you, there’s no need for jealousy. Your parents would love you just as much.”

“Wh-” That response certainly made the other’s head snap up again. “No, I’m not-- I’m not jealous about my _parent’s love._ It’s just- ugh!”

Ah, there he goes again bullying the poor dirt. Surely it didn’t deserve _that_ heated kicks.

“For some reason, I really don’t wanna have a sister born.”

Before Ermal could protest that yes, as annoying as Sabina sometimes was growing up, he would never want to imagine a life without her, the young ginger erupted again with anger. 

“It’s just so unfair, y’know! Girls have it so much easier!”

Girls...what? Well, that was certainly not what the waterbender had imagined to hear, but his apparent surprise got lost to the heated teen.

“Th-They get to do so many things! They are allowed to be sweet, a-and affectionate! Boys are never allowed that! A-and like, earlier, Fiona’s dress for example. She gets to wear such nice dresses, _all the time,_ it made me furious! I-I don’t wanna have a sister, I don’t wanna have all of this shovelled down my throat every day! Ugh, life would be just so much better if you could be a girl!”

And with that, suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place in Ermal’s head.

“You know, if you want to be a girl…” The waterbender started cautiously, trying to find a fine balance between casualness and seriousness in his tone. “...you can just be one.” 

Despite having grown up in a relatively small village in a relatively sparse part of the South Pole, Ermal could say he had already a few defining experiences under his belt. Some more pleasant than others. None of them however were witnessing how his words manifested as a, dare he say, life changing realisation in this young person’s mind. 

Blinking with mouth agape, Giorgio stared at him wordlessly as if he had forgotten to breath. Once the natural necessity for air (and some sort of flight response) kicked in, he took a deep breath before turning sharply away from the waterbender marching towards the woods like he had planned with a mumbled “I gotta go.”

Had Giorgio paid more mind to the road he was taking than to those brand new revelations swirling in his mind, he would have noticed that he had long passed his usual practice ground and instead slowly ended up deeper inside the forest.  
Coincidentally 10 trees, 23 bushes and two rather _busy_ rabbits further down that path, a certain airbender found himself pouting while sitting against a trunk.

_“It’s an honour, Avatar Niccolò”_ “  
_“You reappeared just when we needed you the most.”_ “  
_“How will you defeat the Fire Nation?”_ “

He had not been ready to take on the responsibility of being the Avatar one hundred years ago, let alone now with the war going on. Now people seeked him out, now people truly needed him. They had expectations. Even Aunt Maria during their session. 

_“-and your third daughter would be born under the brightest full moon in three hundred years.”_ “  
_“Oh wow, that’s just insane!”_ “  
_“..So, is that all you wish to look into, Avatar?” She questioned with a finely raised eyebrow. “No other ….crucial things you wish to know about your future?”_ “  
_“I- ehm, w-well, yes! Y-yes, one more crucial thing I’d like to know is, if- if peaches will remain the only fruits I can’t quite stomach or will I start getting all sore throated about other stuff too? Y’know I really like plums, so that would be a bummer.”_ “

Truth be told, he had been too scared to ask her if he’d be able to defeat the Firelord. What if he wouldn’t be able to? He couldn’t bear to hear her confirm his worst nightmares out loud. 

He ran his hands through his hair with frustration and hissed. 

“Fuck, fuck, _fuck!”_

“Ah!”

A startled voice caught Niccolò’s attention and that was when his eyes met Giorgio’s own wide blown ones who was seemingly just as surprised to find someone else in those lonely parts of the woods.

“What are you doing here? Should you be...I don’t know, doing some Avatar stuff?” 

A humourless huff escaped Niccolò and his head sacked down. “I guess I should…”

Yes, he should be doing Avatar stuff instead of moping in solitude like a lost child. 

“It’s just... So _many_ people rely on me. So many people have such _hopes_ when they see me. I’m already running late, and- and people see me as the last chance to end this war when I barely have a plan and- and I’m only stuck with airbending and- I- I have no idea what to tell them how I’m gonna defeat the Firelord. I just don’t know?! It’s literally me against the _entire Fire Nation_ and- and- fuck!”

As loud as that desperate outburst had been (its echo scaring a few animals after all, even the oh so busy rabbits!), the whisper that followed was weak and defeated.

“I- I just wish I could be a better Avatar.”

“You know, if you want to be a better Avatar…” Giorgio slowly sat down next to the airbender and took a deep breath “...you can just be one.” 

“Bu-”  
“You are worried about only bending air, but you got your waterbender friend, right? He’ll teach you. And I’m sure you’ll master the other elements as well, you still have time. And, the world’s been able to fend the Fire Nation off for a hundred years, so they aren’t invincible either. Especially when it's them against the entire rest of the world. You aren’t doing this alone.”  
“True. I- I got Ermal for starters. That’s already a relief.”  
“And...maybe you’re a bit late, but you’re still here now. You still arrived. And isn’t that what counts?” The younger teen now mumbled pensively more to himself than to Niccolò. “Perhaps it’s better to get started later than never at all.”

And then, just as miraculously as the first sun rays peeking through the clouds after a rainy day, a small smile finally found its way on Niccolò´s face again.  
“I got so caught up in my head that I really needed someone talking some sense into me again. You’re right, it’s- it’s gonna be okay, I just have to keep what you said in mind.” The older boy then clapped his younger friend goodnaturedly on the shoulder. “Thanks, Giorgio, really. You’re a good guy.”

“I wouldn’t say so.”

“Huh?” the airbender’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. 

“I- I think I might be a girl?”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
After having secured the last of their newly refilled provisions on Spugna’s back, Ermal turned towards their hosts and gently but firmly grasped Clara’s shoulders.  
“Thank you for everything, really. And…” A swift glance was thrown at the ginger kid standing next to their parents and a small smile found its way on the waterbender’s face “And I still think predicting everyone's future with absolute certainty is bullshit, but Aunt Maria _might_ have perhaps gotten you guys right. I say, just relax and let things take their course.”  
Before the couple could voice their apparent confusion about Ermal’s sudden change of heart, Niccolò joined in after giving Stefano a hug “Yeah, trying for a baby is unnecessary, believe me!” At the end, he hugged Clara and affectionately ruffled her kid’s ginger mob of a head before elegantly jumping up on Spugna’s back. 

A few town folks gathered around the flying dog to see the Avatar off, one of them being Aunt Maria who again with amusement in her eyes observed the travellers. 

“What’s next for you, Avatar?” she wondered, as if she wouldn’t know already where their path would lead them.

Niccolò however then turned to Ermal and asked with a mischievous smirk “Ever ridden an unagi?”  
  
  
  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
His back hit the wall of the stable and he exhaled deeply. What a day.  
  
He wouldn’t complain about it, no, that was what he hoped for, after all. Even when the tiresome work of collecting the vegetables, tying up and carrying the bundles of hay, and guiding the cattle lasted until long after the sun has set. It did keep him occupied, and he could count himself lucky that the farmer was kind enough to trust a stranger with his property. Kind and generous as it turned out, when he even allowed him to sleep inside the stable, amids the hay.  
  
That was, in comparison to all the nights out in the field, a luxury. He didn’t have much, and it didn't bother him either, but he did appreciate a roof over his head. Speaking of his things…  
  
He slowly sacked down against the wall and reached for the cloth bag which virtually contained all that he could call his own, and started rummaging until his hand brought a smaller bag filled with tobacco and a little piece of parchment out into the moonlight.  
  
He liked the village. It was small, undisturbed and people didn’t mind him too much, didn’t bother to ask him too much. A small bit of tobacco ended in the rolled up parchment before being lit up. He took a deep drag and let the hot fume fill his lungs, deliciously warming him up from the inside, before slowly exhaling again. Ah yeah, life’s little pleasures.  
  
It wasn’t easy. It had never been. But sometimes all he needed were those little bits to keep him going; the taste of his tobacco, the feeling of having spent the day doing something productive, the calm nights in a sleeping village.  
Sometimes that’s all he ever had to keep him going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aunt Maria's always right and she personally told us her latest prediction says we're all gonna get through this difficult time ❤️  
> ................also Ermal would splash you with a giant wave and yell "Wash your fucking hands!"
> 
> on a last note, a very big thank you to my friend Anaïs for helping with this chapter, you're stellar, girl! ❤️


	4. Chapter 4

Niccolò was bummed out to find that he wouldn’t be spending his time riding the unagi. Sure, they reached the shore. Sure, he swam around for a bit. However, it just seemed that they weren’t quite biting this evening.

“I swore we could find some here! Maybe they’re just a bit further north.”

“Well, you can always look for them again tomorrow. Why don’t we pass the extra time not being to ride some giant eels with some waterbending, then?”

Niccolò raised a brow. “This doesn’t involve scraping moss off rocks again, does it? Please don’t let it be scraping moss again.”

Ermal chuckled and shook his head. “No, no. I actually mean waterbending. We’ve got plenty of time before we get to where we’re going, but it’d be good to get started as early as possible.”

Whether it was more because he was excited to waterbend or more because this lesson would actually include waterbending and not some other alternative, Niccolò was back on the shore and on his feet in record time.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
“Okay, so we’ll start off very simple. It’s okay if you don’t get it the first time, though, I learned myself that learning waterbending is not very easy. Look.” 

They stood in the water so that it nearly reached their knees. Ermal crouched down so his hands were only inches from its surface and began to move them back and forth in the air to create small ripples and waves in the water. “Just sort of push and pull the water like so.”

Niccolò watched for a few moments, then he copied the movements of his mentor, crouching down and moving his hands back and forth. There was no change in the water. His brows furrowed. “Like this?”

“Yeah, almost, maybe just—” Only a second later he could see the waves pushed below the Avatar’s hands. He was a bit surprised to find he seemed to grasp the move perfectly fine and in under half a minute when it took him much longer at first. “Yeah, like that!”

“I’m finally doing it! I’m waterbending!” Niccolò grinned. It made him soft, watching the airbender as he managed to waterbend. He continued just as so, and Ermal watched as the waves he pulled got larger and larger, higher and higher, like nothing.

“Oh, wow. You’re doing it, alright. Let’s move on to something else, then.” The waterbender took a minute to think, then stood back up. He began to move again with different motions than before, and he pulled a thin stream of water up and around a bit. “This time you’re just going to pull the water up in a stream.”

He looked to Niccolò, who’d already pulled up a larger stream of water that spiraled around him and in every which way. Ermal didn’t notice his own stream of water drop with a plop. “Well, theatrics aside, you’ve already got the hang of it.”

Ermal was already starting to wonder if there was anything this kid wouldn’t pull off seamlessly within ten seconds.

“Alright, here’s a challenge, since you got the easier stuff down.” This time when the waterbender raised his hands, a much larger mass of water rose up in front of them until it was a wave that he let crash beside him. “You caught that?”

“Let me see,” said Niccolò, and he began to pull the water in front of them up slowly. He would need to pull much more water up to make the wave as he did, so Ermal thought it safe to assume he couldn’t have possibly reached that level within five minutes. It was just unheard of.

And then he was looking up at a giant wave blocking the horizon in front of them, practically towering over them.

“Oh.”

“I did it! Now I just…” He saw the Avatar’s face go blank for a second. “I just…”

He let the water go, and the wave crashed directly into both men with enough force to knock them over and wash them up onto shore until they were lying in the sand, completely drenched.

Ermal spat out some water. “I think that’s enough practice for today.”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
The following morning, they set out once again to continue their journey. It hadn’t been as smooth sailing at first, as having been a long while since he’d had to fly any longer distances, Spugna needed to rest often. While over time he seemed to grow more and more adjusted, there was still some room left, and they found themselves looking for a clear spot to take a rest.

“Actually, I think there should be a little Earth Kingdom village around here. We can stop there while Spugna rests a bit.”

“Sounds good.”

Just as Niccolò had said, a little village came into view. They landed nearby under some trees and after some pets and head rubs hopped off Spugna, only for the airbender to look towards the village puzzled.

“Huh.”

“What is it?”

“This place didn’t have walls before.” He gestured towards the village, which was surrounded by walls that, on further inspection, seemed like they were built in a hurry, even unfinished. One might think at one point they were more concerned with trying to get it done than keeping it strong. “What’s happened?”

Ermal shrugged it off. “A lot can change when there’s been a war raging for a hundred years. Why don’t we go see?”

There was only one thing that kept them from seeing, and that was the two men blocking the entrance to the village and staring at them. They were guards without seeming like guards. They had no sort of armor, wore simple clothes, and while one held a spear the other wielded a farming hoe.

“Who are you?” The one with the spear asked. “What is your business?”

“We’ve been travelling for a while and stopped to rest a bit.”

The one with the hoe pressed, “An’ just who are you?”

“I’m Ermal and that’s Niccolò.” Ermal pointed to Niccolò, who was just looking around. The walls just made this place look so _weird!_ It certainly looked better without them before. On top of that, there weren’t really guards. It was a small little farming village you could easily walk through. Maybe it just got bigger, and from the walls it did seem so, but still quite a small village. Times did change after all.

“How long have these been up? There weren't any walls here last I remember.” Ermal couldn’t help but think about how last time he remembered was probably over a hundred years ago.

After a quick exchange of glances between the guards, one responded, “A month, maybe.”

“Something happened?”

The presumed farmer persisted, “What’s it to you?”

“Well, I’m the Avatar. So if there’s something going on, I’m kinda the guy.”

Both men’s eyes went wide and they stared at Niccolò in disbelief.

“There’s no way.”

It took a little bit of Niccolò bending the air, creating some winds and such, for them to see that perhaps there _was_ a way.

“W-welcome, Avatar. We could use quite a lot of help, actually. The village chief should see you.”

And just like that, one of the two men began to lead them towards the village chief’s house, and it was an opportunity for Niccolò and Ermal to see how the village was inside its walls rather than outside. 

Niccolò was right in the fact that it was still small compared to what it could’ve been after so long. They didn’t mind the looks that a few people passing by gave them, since it probably wasn’t every day that you saw Air Nomad and Water Tribe robes here. However, they began to mind the feeling they got from those particular looks. It was like they’d already done _something._ Everyone seemed so tense. Surely, the chief would tell them what’s happened here?

Surely enough, they stopped at a particular home and the door opened to a woman who didn’t seem much different from the rest of the people they’d seen, only she didn’t give them the same look.

“Oh, hello! Has something happened?”

“Er, sortof. This...This is the Avatar.”

“The—” Her eyes widened towards Niccolò, whom the man gestured towards, and he smiled and waved awkwardly. “The Avatar?”

“Yes, ma’am. We stopped by and noticed you might need some help?”

She seemed to scan the two with her eyes once more before she nodded and stepped to the side to allow her guests inside. “Please, come in, I’ll explain everything.”

So the two got comfortable in the nice little home while she provided a bowl of soup and a piece of bread for each of them.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she said as she set the bowls down, “we don’t have much, especially with the Fire Nation now.”

“Don’t worry about it. What’s happening with them?”

“What isn’t happening with them at this point?” Ermal muttered.

She tilted her head in agreement and sat down, taking a deep breath before she began to explain. “Just when we thought we might be left untouched by them somehow, some soldiers decided to come this way about a month ago. They started demanding supplies and food from us, and we’re obviously quite small so there was only so much we could hand over before it was too much, but they didn’t care. When we started to deny them, they started to take the earthbenders at night. We tried to build walls, but when they were all gone it was harder. It’s been difficult, those missing people are friends, parents and children, I _know_ them...And then when that didn’t stop us from saying no, those soldiers threatened to burn down the entire village if we don’t yield. I can tell you right now yielding is not an option for us.”

“Well that escalated,” Ermal muttered bitterly. “Typical of them to just destroy everything...But I’m sorry about your missing people, and the rest.”

The chief simply nodded.

“Did they say when they’d…burn down the village?”

“Tonight.”

Both men’s jaws seemed to hang open.

_“Tonight?_ Surely I—we can help! We can stay here so if they come tonight we can defend the village and drive them away. It’s a damn good thing you showed me some waterbending last night, huh?”

“Y-yea.” Ermal nodded in agreement.

The chief nodded again, but this time it was with a sad, even desperate smile. “Thank you, Avatar. I could not thank you enough. We’ll do whatever to help you help us.”

After a moment of processing their new situation and realizing the most heroic thing he’d remember doing off the top of his head was probably fish for his village, Ermal began, “I think, first and foremost, the place should be evacuated. We don’t know what to expect, and should prioritize the safety of the people before thinking about the village itself.”

“Yea. Where, though? If there’s still really just woods all around, the only thing I could think of is having them hang out with Spugna or something.”

“Spugna?”

“My flying dog. He’s even good with kids.”

The chief’s eyes widened, but then she nodded. “It can work.”

“Also, I hate to ask of this,” Ermal added almost sheepishly, “but…”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
To add on to the list of things the Avatar didn’t expect to be doing as part of his Avatar business, Niccolò was now hauling two buckets full of water in each hand towards the village. Heavy full buckets. To the village that wasn’t very close to the lake. Frankly, he hadn’t done any heavy-lifting in a hundred years, and he didn’t want to start now.

“It just gets heavier!”

Ermal, whom he couldn’t tell if he had less trouble or just chose not to complain about the weight, replied, “Just think of this as part of your waterbending lessons.”

“And what’s this supposed to teach me?”

“...Perseverance? And, I suppose, that you can’t always rely solely on waterbending when there’s not always a water source conveniently nearby.”

Niccolò huffed. “It’s a damn good thing I’ll always have air then.”

“You know,” an old woman carrying a vase of water near the pair spoke up, “you wouldn’t be complaining about those buckets if not for that damned dragon. Or if you just put more muscle on those skinny bones.”

While Niccolò’s mouth hung open in slight offense, Ermal replied, “Don’t tell me you saw a real dragon over here.”

She shook her head. “I’m not young, but I’m not senile either, no. It was this man who came to the village, didn’t know anything about him, just that he found work at the farm. Didn’t do much else for a few days. Even tried to talk to him once or twice, but he was so quiet. He seemed even nice.” Her expression quickly turned more sour. “And then one night I look out my window and see him walking down the road with a tobacco roll in his hand, and he lights it without a match! With his breath! I’ve never ran someone out so fast. Serves him right, though, he must’ve been helping those damn Fire Nation—”

The pair watched the woman string together a whole sentence of unflattering words to express her strong feelings towards this “Dragon” and the Fire Nation troops, which impressed even Ermal, but sat a bit uncomfortably in Niccolò’s gut. Maybe it was half because he’d never heard some of these words, especially used like _that!_

“Uh. Thanks for the information, ma’am.”

“Of course,” she said, and she was on her way with the vase of water with greater speed than that of the two benders. 

“Wow,” was all Niccolò managed.

On the other hand, his companion huffed. “Great, we already had Fire Nation troops to worry about. Now on top of that is some sort of firebender spy.”

“I guess we’ll see tonight, then.”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
The sun set. Nightfall came. Ermal and Niccolò waited atop the village entrance, probably one of if not the only spots on the wall where you could stand and sit without worrying about it toppling over, for the Fire Nation troops to arrive to attempt to torch this empty village. They wouldn’t make it, the benders would make sure the village was barely touched by flames, as long as they didn’t let their egos get to their heads, which would be a very useful reminder for Avatar Niccolò, Master of the Four Elements, Savior of the World and also his fisherman friend.

Then, out of the darkness, a single figure. No, that wasn’t right. They wouldn’t send a single soldier, would they? Upon closer examination as they approached the gates, they found no red military armor, no uniform, just a dark cloak with its hood raised. 

“They’re really trying their best not to look sketchy, huh?” muttered Ermal.

The figure kept approaching, and Ermal was ready to call out to the mysterious person, until they stopped. Then, they turned so that their back was facing the village. Then, they sat down.

“What are they doing?”

“It’s like they’re waiting too. But why? This can’t be good. You think that could be…?”

“I guess we’ll find out, hang on.”

Niccolò went to jump down from the wall when the cloaked figure seemed to turn their head slightly and raised their hand, motioning him to stop in his tracks. And he complied, though confused.

Then they heard it: The same marching that sounds more like stomps. The familiar clicking and clacking of military uniforms.

Then they saw it: The men in red lined up and closing in on the village entrance before stopping in front of the mystery person.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll get out of our way. This is your only warning.” The centre soldier’s voice was sharp and mean, yet his demands fell on deaf ears as they didn’t move an inch, nor was there any response that reached either of the benders’ ears. Angered, the soldier moved swiftly to attack them with fire.

And the fire from his hands exploded back in his face.

“What—” was all Ermal could muster, while an equally confused Niccolò mustered a chuckle watching the display backfire. It was much preferred over possibly watching this person be severely burned for standing— _er_ —sitting their ground.

However, after that moment of surprise, the airbender jumped down from the wall as the cloaked person had stood up and the fight to drive the troops away from the village began.

He did his very best with what he had, which is where it was especially a good thing he always had air, because that was practically all Niccolò had to disperse the flames and move with haste on his feet, trying to direct the fire away from the village, trying to deter the soldiers away.

At the same time, there was that cloaked figure, and they were also taking shots at those troops. They were defending the village with him, but instead he turned the troops’ fire against them. He caught glimpses of flames changing directions or dispersing suddenly and fire spawning from fists with no sort of armor or protection.

All the while, there was a certain waterbender standing atop the entrance still, commanding buckets of water to extinguish whatever ball of fire came too close to the village, and using what he could spare against the soldiers.

One could say it was a good example of teamwork for two people who’d only been traveling together for some days and a sudden stranger who wielded the same abilities as the sworn enemy of many. It was good enough for the troops to begin to turn away, the trouble probably too much for them to want to deal with when they had expected the village to be mostly defenseless.

There were one or two who didn’t back down still, but that changed when a burst of fire came from the cloaked firebender’s mouth, large enough to almost burn their eyebrows off, and they decided they’d rather keep their eyebrows and followed the rest moving away from the village. On the other hand, the display fascinated Niccolò. If this was that Dragon character, the nickname certainly held some merit.

“Woo!” Niccolò cheered. They’d done it! They’d defended the village! However, it was short-lived, for he knew that this wasn’t over and that he was alone in his cheer because Ermal was off making sure all the fires were extinguished and the firebender was once again silent and sat down in nearly, if not the exact same spot he did before.

So, very much intrigued, the Avatar sat next to this firebender.

“They’re from your Nation, yet you fought against them,” he thought out loud.

He was surprised to hear a low chuckle, but there was something underlying in it he couldn’t place, and when they spoke it was with a rough voice, and he knew they were male. “My Nation or not, doesn’t mean I’m going to stand for torching villages and ruining lives for nothing more than an ego boost and some territory.” He turned, and he could now see the beard and a pair of solemn, worn eyes fixed on him. “Now, have I finally lost my mind or is there really a live airbender next to me?”

“Would it be better if you lost your mind? From what I can tell it’s still intact.” 

“So you’re really—” The puzzled man couldn’t finish before there were footsteps behind them, the source being a certain waterbender that began speaking as quickly as he walked.

“There was a bit of minor scorching in the village but everything’s put out and everything’s fine and alright and _what_ is going on here?”

“Oh.” Niccolò pointed with his thumb to the firebender. “This is uh, what’s—What’s your name?”

“Oh, uhm, Fa—”

“I don’t care what his name is, what is a firebender doing still here? He probably _led_ those troops here!”

“I can—” The bearded man, Ohumfa (a strange name! Names certainly changed after some decades), tried to explain.

“Nononono. Whatever your deal is, whatever game you’re playing, I am not falling for it! You—”

“Enough!” There was a gust of wind as Niccolò lifted himself up onto his feet with haste. “Let’s not just jump to conclusions. He just helped keep the village from burning up, doesn’t that account for something?”

“Well let’s not just trust every single person that happens to help us out one time! If we do that we’ll never reach the North Pole!”

The firebender stood up as the argument progressed. “Curly hair has a point. If me being here is so much of a problem, I should just go.”

“Wait!” Niccolò grabbed his arm, holding it lightly only long enough so that he stayed. “You wanted to help this village, right? We can help it again. This isn’t over. You out of all of us should know that they’re not just going to give up like this, but we aren’t either. Plus, these walls are weak.”

“That wouldn’t be the case if they didn’t take all their earthbenders, but they were all taken to this camp. I think it’s roughly east from here...That’d seem to be the best way to ensure it's safer in the future.”

Ermal quickly countered, “We can’t leave here to go on some sort of jailbreak or else the village is defenseless.”

“Then that’s where you two come in.”

Ermal’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, _you two?”_

“I have an idea.” The airbender crossed his arms. “If the village isn’t safe without the earthbenders, we’ll go get the earthbenders, but because we need people here, I’ll go bust them out. You, er, Ohumfa?”

Ohumfa’s brows furrowed at him as if he had no idea where or how he got that name because he promptly corrected him. “Fabrizio.”

“Er, yea, I was close enough. You want to help the village again? Then you can stay here and defend it if and when they come back. Ermal,” he turned his head to the waterbender, “I know your old heart is about to give out just thinking about it, so you stay here too and make sure this place stays intact.”

“Oh no, you are _not_ going into some camp we’re not even sure is wherever he said alone.” He lowered his voice, “And stay here with a firebender we don’t know? Did you leave your head in that iceberg?”

“Well if we have any more of us going, what might happen to the village when we’re gone? If something happens to it, all these people are going to be without homes. And think of this as getting to know someone better. _If_ something happens, you’ll be there.”

The stubborn waterbender finally backed down, “...Alright, alright. But if you’re not back by, say, sunrise, I’m coming after you.”

“Wait, wait,” Fabrizio interjected, “I don’t mean to be rude, but you’re going to go to that place alone and bust out their earthbenders, and that’s supposed to be fail-proof?”

Ermal quickly responded, “Oh, he just has a knack for weird shady stuff like busting people out of camps, that’s all.”

“It’s fine, Ermal. I’m the Avatar. I’ve got airbending and a bit of waterbending under my belt, I’ve got a chance. I can probably do that.” 

Fabrizio stared at the Avatar with wide eyes, meanwhile Ermal shook his head and sighed. Someone definitely didn’t like the idea of him casually admitting he was the Avatar in front of a firebender. Well, someone also didn’t like the idea of a firebender to begin with, something he still couldn’t quite get a grasp on.

“You can’t be—” Fabrizio couldn’t even finish because Niccolò turned to a nearby bucket of water, and with a bit of effort, the water began to rise out of it. Fabrizio looked to Ermal, whose arms had been crossed the whole time as he glared back, and then back to Niccolò, mouth slightly ajar.

“Alright.” Fabrizio nodded. “Whatever I can do to help you and help these people.”

“Thank you. Ermal?”

“This is still a disastrous idea, but I can’t think of anything better at the moment.”

“That’s the spirit. If there’s no more questions I’ll get going to find those earthbenders. That camp isn’t too far on foot, right? If the others are liking Spu I don’t wanna leave them alone.” A nod in response. “Cool. I’ll be off then.”

“Wait,” Fabrizio stopped him. Before he could ask why, the firebender took off his cloak and held it out towards the Avatar. “I can still see those bright clothes in the dark. You’ll get caught sneaking around like that even quicker.”

“Oh.” Niccolò looked down. He could say, with confidence, he could definitely try to blend in better. With that in mind, he took the cloak and put it on. “Good point. Thank you, really. Alright, later kiddos!”

And just like that, the airbender was off on his little ball of air. Ermal and Fabrizio looked at each other, though it was more like Fabrizio happening to notice Ermal was glaring at him. Each time he had a firebender this close to him it only meant trouble, and despite Fabrizio’s apparent helpfulness he still couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something more. Firebenders meant only trouble. He wouldn’t let this one catch him off his guard. On top of that, Niccolò wanted to keep a firebender around to protect the village from being torched! Of all people, a walking _torch!_

After a moment, the firebender did nothing except sit down the same as before, with his back to the village and side to Ermal. So Ermal sat down a bit behind him and wouldn’t take his eyes off him. He had to be vigilant. He had to snuff out those flames on the first sign of trouble.

This was going to be a long night.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
For hours, they sat. It was silent. To Ermal, the only thing that could be more dangerous than a firebender was a silent one. Also, the silence made him tired. He was tired just sitting here. He could just as easily fall asleep had he not needed to stay awake in case the soldiers came back, maybe he spaced out for a bit.

And if he had fallen asleep, the sudden loud rumble surely would have woken him up.

“What was that?”

“My stomach,” Fabrizio replied bluntly. “I just haven’t eaten in a while. It’s nothing.”

Nothing? Something about this struck Ermal. This man was really sitting here silently, starving and brushing it off as no big deal? As if starving was the same as being tired? A part of him thought it had something, anything to do with some hidden motive, some plan of that firebender, and then he cursed himself for it.

Ermal stood up and cautiously approached the firebender, taking out the bread he’d saved from earlier and holding it out to him. 

Fabrizio eyed the bread and the waterbender almost warily. He took the piece with caution, yet there seemed to be no sort of trick under Ermal’s short sleeves. He was just handing him food.

“Thank you...Why?”

Of all things, it was that single word that caught him off guard, but he answered nonetheless: “If they do come back and you do defend the village again, it’s better if you’re not having to think about food, and…” He found it harder to maintain eye contact and perhaps for the first time that night he averted his gaze for more than a second. “Even if you’re Fire Nation, I can’t just watch someone starve in front of me.”

Fabrizio could only nod in acknowledgement and begin eating his bread.

Ermal simply returned to where he was before. While it felt that there was a little piece chipped off from the iceberg of tension he was on, he would still be vigilant, because the more time that passed the more he would believe those troops were on their way back. He just hoped that Niccolò was alright and made it back soon enough.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Except this was going to be awhile, because one’s stealth skills aren’t guaranteed to be sharp after a hundred years of not using them. Niccolò was learning this first-hand.

Long story short, the cloak had unfortunately only pushed the time in which airbender had been caught scouting around the camp a little later, which led to him not being quick enough to prevent himself from now being led with his hands bound towards a tent.

Long story shorter, he wasn’t exactly alright.

When he was pushed into the tent, he found several more faces sitting along the edges of the tent and staring at him. However, they were all dressed in greens and browns and had their hands and feet bound.

“Oh, hi— _oof!”_ He was promptly pushed again, and this time some dust was kicked up as he hit the ground. The soldier promptly stepped back. Really, what was it with these soldiers and being so rude?

A man sitting to his right spoke up first, “Who are you?”

“I’m Niccolò. I was actually looking for you guys, it’s nice to meet you all, though it probably would’ve been nicer if I didn’t get caught beforehand.”

He raised his head, and the group eyed him strangely. Maybe he was wearing too much orange for the occasion.

“You were looking for us?”

“Yeah. Cause—” The realization hit him hard as stone. “Oh no.”

“What? Did you come from our village?”

He nodded.

A woman in the group spoke up, “Well spit it out then, are they alright? We could hear those bastards planning something from here.”

“Everything’s alright for now. They came to, er, sort of torch it earlier, but we shooed them off and all that before they could do any real damage. I was just hoping I could get to you guys and get out before they might try again but, as you can see, I’ve done a terrific job of that.”

“Terrific.”

Niccolò laid on the ground for a bit longer, thinking. Then the position just got uncomfortable, so he breathed deeply and blew a gust of wind from his mouth strong enough to lift him to an upright sitting position. “I’m sure we can all figure something out.”

It took him a second to realize why the earthbenders all looked at each other. Right, the airbending.

Someone in the group spoke up. “An airbender...A real airbender. I’m sure we _can_ figure something out...”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
The faintest red spread across the horizon as if it had been lit on fire, then orange, then just a sliver of the sun, but Ermal couldn’t marvel at it when he remembered what he’d told Niccolò, when he knew something was wrong.

Ermal stood up and looked to the firebender. “He’s still not here. Where did you send him?”

“It should’ve been over—” 

Before he could point, Fabrizio was cut off by a familiar rhythmic sound. The two slowly looked towards the rising sun, and down the path they spotted red helmets.

Soldiers marched towards them, but there seemed to be a few more of them. And there was one less of them, still. And this time, Fabrizio stood up.

Ermal’s throat felt dry, and he swallowed. He didn’t like this new shift in odds. There were just a couple more troops that looked more prepared than before. There was a very limited supply of water, a firebender he couldn’t bring himself to trust at all, and a missing Avatar. It made his hands tremble.

The first attack came from a soldier, and when Fabrizio wasted no time in dispelling the fire and countering, there was a bit of comfort in the fact that he was on his side and that it wasn’t him against those fiery breaths. It took him a second, and then Ermal was jumping in, bending the water from the buckets, using it to trip them, freeze them to the ground, whatever he could, trying to be precise. Whatever one could think of when they rarely used waterbending to fight a real battle, or never fought a real battle at all. They did whatever to keep the soldiers away from the entrance.

It seemed to be going well until Ermal noticed a plume of flames above, one that the firebender couldn’t redirect in time, reaching over the walls and into the village, no doubt setting something alight. He had to run back into the village to put out whatever fire had started. Keeping the village intact was their first priority.

However, when he turned he felt something slam into his back. Hard. The hit sent him to the ground without a spare moment to process it. He turned his head to look up to a soldier standing over him, raising a flaming fist towards him, and suddenly he enjoyed not having a scarred face. 

Before he could react or try to counter, before the soldier could go to land a blow, he was shoved away by a pissed Fabrizio, and for the first time in his life Ermal felt thankful for a firebender’s presence. It gave him the time he needed to get up to run back into the village and quickly extinguish the roof that had caught fire.

By the time he returned they were even closer to the entrance and weren’t getting any farther from it. It was obvious they were becoming overwhelmed. There were just too many soldiers and too few of them. 

“We can’t go on like this!” He heard Fabrizio call out.

“We’re gonna have to!”

_Where was the Avatar when you needed that guy the most?_

Just then, the ground rose beneath the soldiers. It was quick and without a warning, and close enough that a surprised Fabrizio began to lose balance and probably would’ve slipped or fallen if not for the hand grabbing his arm and yanking him back towards the entrance. In the same manner that it rose, it crumbled under their feet, sending them off balance and tumbling in a display of falling rock and soil. 

It was only after this and an exchange of confused glances with the firebender he yanked back that he could finally spot where it all had come from: A group of men and women he’d never seen before now making their way over with one certain person with a barely familiar cloak and bright clothes peeking out underneath.

When the earthbenders began to help drive the troops away, all the moving and flying rock and earth made the next minute a bit of a blur for Ermal, but they all began to move further back and back, until the soldiers retreated. Once again there was a cheer from the Avatar, only this time the earthbenders joined in.

By the spirits, they’d actually made it!

The first thing Ermal did was march up to Niccolò and pull him into a tight hug. “You crazy bastard, you did it! I mean, it would’ve been nicer if you weren’t so fashionably late and all, but it worked.”

“Sorry about that. I would’ve made it sooner, but I kind of had to have a change of plans.” Before Ermal could ask him just _why_ he had to change his plan, he asked, “So I take it everything went alright?”

He thought back on it. The hours of silence. The bread exchange. Probably almost getting his face pummeled in if not for the firebender.

“I suppose, yes...Lots of sitting around silently.”

Niccolò seemed content with the answer and turned his attention to the firebender. Noticing how the earthbenders eyed him, no doubt because even if Niccolò hadn’t said anything to them, they most likely witnessed the man firebending and still standing there with the Avatar. He decided to turn his attention to them to thank them for saving his behind and tell them about the village and so on, since the other person who could’ve was now occupied.

“I’m Niccolò, happy to meet you. Thank you for the help, really, you seem like a good dude.”

Fabrizio was still looking at him with a confused glint in his eyes. Maybe he was wondering since when the Avatar went around offering fistbumps.

He returned the gesture. “Fabrizio, again. It’s been nice helping you.” He chuckled awkwardly, “I never thought I’d fistbump the Avatar...Or meet. Or see. You get the idea.”

“Well, now you have.” Niccolò only then remembered something, and he took off the dark cloak he’d borrowed and held it out. “Thank you for this, too. I still got caught, but that’s besides the point.”

“Of course.” Fabrizio took the cloak back and wrapped it around himself, and there was something about how he held it close to him and what comfort he seemed to get from it that made him a bit surprised now that he handed it over at all. He seemed to hesitate as he spoke again, “I guess I’ll go fetch my bag and be off, then. Best of luck to you, Niccolò, and your friend over there too, I suppose he’s not as bad as he looked at first—” He spotted a quick side glance, “—And...hopefully the end of this war comes much sooner now.”

He turned around and began to walk away in the same direction he’d first come from that night, and immediately Niccolò knew it felt wrong, like he had to act quickly. Sure, he barely knew this guy at all, but he seemed so genuine. If he was up against the Fire Nation, if the rest of the firebenders they were to run into were like those troops, if he had to find someone to teach him firebending…

“Wait!” He repeated over and over, running up to Fabrizio who stopped and turned back, confused. Only then he realized he wasn’t sure how exactly he was going to say it.

“This is a lot to ask, and I know we barely know each other at all, but you seem like a really good guy and your firebending is just—I don’t think I’ve seen someone _breathe_ fire like that in a hundred years! It was amazing! And, well, I need to master all the elements if I’m gonna stand any chance to stop the war and all, and I don’t know what’s ahead of us, nor do I know if I’ll get this chance again anytime soon but—” Niccolò had to stop for air. “Is there any chance you’d be willing to come with us and teach me to firebend?”

Silence followed until the anxiety could’ve killed him if not for the fact that Fabrizio finally spoke up.

“I—Wow.” That _was_ a lot. “I’m not sure how good of a teacher I’d make, but if it's any good at all...Shit, I’ll do it. Under one condition.”

“What is it?”

“If he would stop staring at me like he’ll jump me the next time I think I’m alone.” Fabrizio gestured towards the waterbender who had without a shadow of a doubt overheard their conversation (or at least Niccolò’s proposition) and was looking in their direction wordlessly. “If he could at least look like he might consider cutting my throat in my sleep instead.”

Ermal’s face changed, now shaped more by confusion, and it seemed good enough for Fabrizio.

“Close enough.”

“That’s Ermal. I hope you two got along alright during the night.”

Fabrizio waved his hand as if to say _“Eh, so-so.”_ At this point, Ermal came over, arms crossed. “So he’s really coming with us, then?”

“If it’s fine with you two. But like this I can get an early start on firebending, too. Unless you want me to ask the Fire Lord or something.”

There was a pause. “Alright, I get it. It’s just hard to think we’re bringing a torch to the North Pole of all places.”

“The North Pole?”

“Oh, that’s where we’re headed. I probably should’ve mentioned that too.”

“That’s alright.”

“Well,” began Ermal, “we should probably go tell the villagers everything’s alright for now. ”

“Of course.” Niccolò turned to Fabrizio. “You coming?"

“I really shouldn’t. I’ll just go get my bag.”

He would’ve begun to protest, if not for the fact that he knew the others probably would not give him a very warm welcome. “Alright, so then we can meet back here, maybe power through some traveling and set up camp early. Sounds good?” It seemed to sound good to the other two, who nodded.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Their plan began to sound less good to Fabrizio when he finally found out just how they were traveling. 

Well, admittedly the giant dog looming directly over him would be one of the most adorable things he’d ever seen, if not for the fact that he was _a giant dog looming directly over him._ Sniffing him with a big black nose bigger than his head. Niccolò had assured him that this Spugna liked everyone. He was counting on it right now.

However, the last thing he expected was for a big pink tongue to slip out, only to lick him with enough force to send him promptly falling on his behind.

“See? He likes you!”

Ermal chimed, “He likes everyone.”

“That’s good, that’s good,” Fabrizio huffed.

It was time for them to get a move on, so they all piled onto Spugna, with Fabrizio setting down his cloth bag where he sat at the back of the big saddle. At the very least, something about not constantly traveling on foot sounded amazing.

Ermal, sitting on the other side of the saddle, looked to him. “Oh, quick tip: You should probably hold onto something.”

“Thanks.” Fabrizio put his hands to the edges of the saddle. To think that the ride was a bit bumpy, at least when Spugna first starts walking or running, would be a perfectly reasonable assumption.

Niccolò turned around to face his two passengers, “Ready?”

“Yeah.”

“I suppose.”

“Great! Hold on tight.”

Fabrizio decided to adjust to be able to secure his bag as he could while he held onto the saddle, just to be sure.

“Aò aò, Spu!”

Of course Fabrizio expected a bumpy ride, but was instead met by Spugna suddenly lurching upwards. His grip tightened until his knuckles turned white, and he was surprised to find that neither he or his bag were falling and that he could no longer see even the treetops, and at some point everything leveled out and they were smooth sailing. Mostly, he was focused on the fact that he couldn’t even see the treetops.

“Wh— _What the fuck?”_

“Oh. We might’ve left out a small detail.”

“Y-you think?” Fabrizio looked around but could only see the vast skies. He dared to look down besides him and immediately regretted it when he found the missing treetops...Far below them. A wave of vertigo washed over him and he closed his eyes, holding on for dear life if it was even possible for him to tighten his grip further. “He can _fly?”_

“Isn’t that obvious?” Niccolò replied, “He’s a flying dog.”

“How is that obvious?!”

Fabrizio was nearly jealous to hear his new waterbending travel companion sounded more well-adjusted to the ride than he was. “Oh, it’s obvious. Just like how I can breathe water, obviously.”

“Thanks, that really helps a lot!”

“Of course.” 

Fabrizio dared not open his eyes until he felt and heard that they were, for certain, back on the ground.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
The sun was still up when they stopped to set up camp and rest for the day. It was clear that the all-nighter, the fighting, and the traveling through the day was taxing on the group. Fabrizio would’ve fallen asleep had he not been stressing out until his hair grayed even more, Ermal seemed to look like he’d just woken up from a nap and hadn’t slept in decades simultaneously, and even Niccolò had much less energy than he’d seen earlier.

Maybe the general lack of energy was why Fabrizio looked a bit surprised to hear Ermal deciding that setting up the tent was a decent time to start asking him questions.

“So, what’s a firebender doing sneaking around and getting chased out of Earth Kingdom villages?”

“What?”

Ermal just continued setting up the tent like nothing. “Well, you’re either a very convincing spy or something else, and it’d be nice to at least know your answer if we’re traveling together.”

“I—I’ve been traveling around for a while. Going village by village for work, y’know.”

“I’d figure you could do the same thing in the Fire Nation. Why not?”

When he glanced back, Fabrizio was sat down, looking off as he twiddled his thumbs. “I just couldn’t stay there anymore. I had to get away from it all.” His gaze shifted to meet him. “Why aren’t you in the Poles, then? Sick of the cold?”

“Making sure Niccolò gets from one Pole to the other in one piece.” The warmer weather _was_ a bonus, though. 

“Fair.”

The tent was set up by the time Niccolò came over. “By the way, Fab, if you want you can take my spot in the tent, I’ll just cuddle with Spugna.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“That good with you, Erm?”

_Well, when you consider the possibility of being attacked in the middle of the night with our guard down, and you being the last hope for the war and all, who should be avoiding ambushes at all costs, and even if this guy hasn’t done anything, he won’t let himself be fooled and..._

_“Good night!”_

Niccolò called out from outside, no doubt with Spugna. Meanwhile, Fabrizio had wasted no time in hunkering down on one side of the tent. On the other side of the tent, Ermal sat up, almost feeling more awake than he had in the past day. He still eyed the man lying with his back facing him, noting the messy hair and inked arms.

Another long night awaited him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> B: hello fellow conspirators how are we feeling
> 
> C: I've had Fabrizio for one chapter but if anything happened to him I'd kill everyone in the Fire Nation and then myself

**Author's Note:**

> stream ALLDN on iTunes, Spotify and Soundcloud! :dab:


End file.
